Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Y'all ready for this? First BoA of 08/09
Yeah, yeah it's the preseason and meaningless and everything. Still...Battle! Game on! Etc!
Not only is the game being televised by Sportsnet, but both clubs are apparently dressing half-way decent rosters. Flames:
Bertuzzi Langkow Iginla
Glencross Boyd Moss
Roy Primeau Nystrom
Cammalleri Backlund Lundmark
Phaneuf Giordano
Pardy Aucoin
Sarich Vandermeer
Scumbags:
Cole Horcoff Hemsky
Nilsson Cogliano Gagner
Moreau Spurgeon Lefebvre
Schremp Cornet Corazzini
Souray Visnovsky
Grebeshkov Gilbert
Peckham Roy
via Rob Kerr.
As you can see, both clubs have their "#1 lines" in the queue as well as a handful of veteran defenders and such. Oilers fans can crack another Pilsner and kiss their sisters in celebration of the fact that the ol' big meany Robyn Regehr won't be around to rough-up poor, delicate Ales Hemsky tonight.
On the Flames front, I'll be watching how Backlund does between Cammalleri and Lundmark (?) as well as my not-so-secret fantasy pairing of Giordano and Phaneuf (although Dion has been Mr.Chaos so far this pre-season). Also, I hope Dustin Boyd can build on his strong effort so far and can further ingratiate himself with the coaching staff. Partially because I'm rooting for the guy crack the top 6 for his own sake and partially because I have him as a dark horse in the blogger pool.
Prediction - Flames win, Roloson's mask comes off somehow.
Go Flames!
The belly laugh moves from up North to the West Coast...
The Vancouver Canucks have a new captain and his name is.......Roberto Luongo.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You just can't make this stuff up.
Thank you, Mike Gillis, for your Lowe-quality entertainment this summer.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You just can't make this stuff up.
Thank you, Mike Gillis, for your Lowe-quality entertainment this summer.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Fantasy wankery
As you may or may not know, Im part of Mirtle's second annual hockey blogger/writer invitational. With some of the heavy hitters discussing how their various drafts went recently, I figured I'd get in on the action.
First, the league: 17 of the best bloggers and pundits around. Twenty rounds in the draft with 90 seconds between each pick. Something like 400 players were chosen in total. Scoring categories included: goals, assists, +/-, PPG, PPA, PIM, SOG for skaters and Wins, GAA, SV%, SV and SO for goalies.
Lucky me, I chose 16th.
My choices:
Center:
Eric Staal, Valtteri Filpulla, Mikko Koivu
Staal was my first rounder, basically because the pickings were getting slim in terms of first line difference makers by that point in the pool. Filpulla and Koivu came much later in the draft and Im basically banking on both of them taking a step forward with their respective teams this year. Im especially bullish on Koivu who had great underlying stats in a checking role for Minnesota last year.
Wingers:
Corey Perry, Mike Knuble, Todd Bertuzzi and Alexander Semin
Perry was my third round choice - another guy I expect to improve. Also useful because he tends to generate numbers in all categories, including PIM. The rest of the wingers were chosen well into the draft, including Bertuzzi whom I picked up around the 14th round if I remember correctly.
Utility forwards and bench players:
Joe Pavelski, Nigel Dawes, Steve Bernier, Alex Burrows, Dustin Boyd and Antti Mientinen.
A lot of one dimensional players and long shots that will probably spend large swaths of time on the virtual bench. I picked up Burrows to inflate my PIM totals and I like the potential of guys like Pavelski, Dawes and Boyd to potentially have break-out years. I picked up Bernier with of my very last choices, mainly with the hope he'll have an "Anson" year with the Sedins.
Defense:
Brent Burns, Michal Rozsival, Dustin Byfuglien and Roman Hamrlik.
Outside of the very best guys (Phaneuf, Lidstrom) blueliners tend to be less impactful so I left my first choice (Burns) until about the mid-way point and chose a majority of the other guys near the end. I think the Byfuglien pick is a sneaky one because he's likely to play a majority of the year as a forward (and they tend to get more goals, points, shots on net than the average defender).
Goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist, Peter Budaj and Curtis Mcelhinney.
Kind Henry was my second overall choice. Some of the best guys went in the first round (Kipper, Borduer) and, as I learned last year in this same pool, having a capable starting goaltender is ESSENTIAL to success. I consider Lundqvist one of the best in the game and a lock to start around 70 games and get a bunch of wins and shut-outs.
It's ironic that I ended up with Budaj as my 2nd 'tender, mainly because I've been laughing at Colorado for going with him as a starter this year. However, he was good value for where I chose him and I don't think he will be usurped by his back-up even if he should stumble a bit. Should be good for a majority of starts and the team in front of him is solid.
Mchardtospell was my throw-away final pick in the draft. It's always a good idea to have a long-shot goalie on the bench, just in case a major guy gets injured or something.
Anyways, that's my team. Im looking forward to this pool again this season. The competition will be fierce.
First, the league: 17 of the best bloggers and pundits around. Twenty rounds in the draft with 90 seconds between each pick. Something like 400 players were chosen in total. Scoring categories included: goals, assists, +/-, PPG, PPA, PIM, SOG for skaters and Wins, GAA, SV%, SV and SO for goalies.
Lucky me, I chose 16th.
My choices:
Center:
Eric Staal, Valtteri Filpulla, Mikko Koivu
Staal was my first rounder, basically because the pickings were getting slim in terms of first line difference makers by that point in the pool. Filpulla and Koivu came much later in the draft and Im basically banking on both of them taking a step forward with their respective teams this year. Im especially bullish on Koivu who had great underlying stats in a checking role for Minnesota last year.
Wingers:
Corey Perry, Mike Knuble, Todd Bertuzzi and Alexander Semin
Perry was my third round choice - another guy I expect to improve. Also useful because he tends to generate numbers in all categories, including PIM. The rest of the wingers were chosen well into the draft, including Bertuzzi whom I picked up around the 14th round if I remember correctly.
Utility forwards and bench players:
Joe Pavelski, Nigel Dawes, Steve Bernier, Alex Burrows, Dustin Boyd and Antti Mientinen.
A lot of one dimensional players and long shots that will probably spend large swaths of time on the virtual bench. I picked up Burrows to inflate my PIM totals and I like the potential of guys like Pavelski, Dawes and Boyd to potentially have break-out years. I picked up Bernier with of my very last choices, mainly with the hope he'll have an "Anson" year with the Sedins.
Defense:
Brent Burns, Michal Rozsival, Dustin Byfuglien and Roman Hamrlik.
Outside of the very best guys (Phaneuf, Lidstrom) blueliners tend to be less impactful so I left my first choice (Burns) until about the mid-way point and chose a majority of the other guys near the end. I think the Byfuglien pick is a sneaky one because he's likely to play a majority of the year as a forward (and they tend to get more goals, points, shots on net than the average defender).
Goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist, Peter Budaj and Curtis Mcelhinney.
Kind Henry was my second overall choice. Some of the best guys went in the first round (Kipper, Borduer) and, as I learned last year in this same pool, having a capable starting goaltender is ESSENTIAL to success. I consider Lundqvist one of the best in the game and a lock to start around 70 games and get a bunch of wins and shut-outs.
It's ironic that I ended up with Budaj as my 2nd 'tender, mainly because I've been laughing at Colorado for going with him as a starter this year. However, he was good value for where I chose him and I don't think he will be usurped by his back-up even if he should stumble a bit. Should be good for a majority of starts and the team in front of him is solid.
Mchardtospell was my throw-away final pick in the draft. It's always a good idea to have a long-shot goalie on the bench, just in case a major guy gets injured or something.
Anyways, that's my team. Im looking forward to this pool again this season. The competition will be fierce.
The way of the future
I caught some of Sportsnets season preview this weekend and was struck by something Doug MacLean said. That's right -- Doug MacLean.
During a discussion around the Leafs youngster Luke Schenn, Mike Brophy suggested the first rounder would be better served going back to Junior to continue his development since the Leafs would be lousy with or without him. MacLean replied, "that's a fairy tale."*
"Some players regress when they go back to Junior. It's about the individual player, really. The Leafs should do what's good for Schenn rather than the team."**
*(I think he meant myth)
**(paraphrased)
What MacLean is getting at, I think, is: a youngsters development can actually be accelerated by exposing him to top quality competition at a young age. We've already seen a number of teenagers step directly into the bigs out of Junior the last few years and either keep their heads above water or make a significant impact right away.
As such, the decision to promote a Luke Schenn - or Mikael Backlund for that matter - should be more about how the move will potentially affect the kids development than the club's immediate depth chart or fortunes. Will the tougher sledding make him stronger? Or will he simply be overwhelmed?
Obviously that's the line in the sand the Flames are trying to define with Backlund this preseason. I think we can assume that if Sutter/Keenan think he'd be better served by playing here than in Sweden, then a roster spot/cap room will be cleared to make it happen.
And if Backlund gets tapped on the shoulder, I think what we should expect is (from what I've seen and heard so far):
- Some initial struggles while he gets acclimatized to the faster game.
- Carefully managed ice-time with decent line mates.
- Only marginally good results (35-40 points, -5 to -10).
- One of the existing centers goes away by the deadline (Langkow, Lombardi, Primeau, etc.).
Backlund as a Calgary Flame at 19 years old would be less about him making a positive impact this year and more about getting his feet wet/grooming him to be an impact player for the near future. For an example see: Sam Gagner, whose rookie season followed a similar arc to the hypothetical one I suggest for Backlund above. The Oilers got a bunch of Gagner's primary growing pains out of the way by promoting him last season and now he's poised to be a legitimate top 6 option for them this year. The Flames might be able to do the same with Backlund this season (for next season), assuming he can make the leap without being ruined.
During a discussion around the Leafs youngster Luke Schenn, Mike Brophy suggested the first rounder would be better served going back to Junior to continue his development since the Leafs would be lousy with or without him. MacLean replied, "that's a fairy tale."*
"Some players regress when they go back to Junior. It's about the individual player, really. The Leafs should do what's good for Schenn rather than the team."**
*(I think he meant myth)
**(paraphrased)
What MacLean is getting at, I think, is: a youngsters development can actually be accelerated by exposing him to top quality competition at a young age. We've already seen a number of teenagers step directly into the bigs out of Junior the last few years and either keep their heads above water or make a significant impact right away.
As such, the decision to promote a Luke Schenn - or Mikael Backlund for that matter - should be more about how the move will potentially affect the kids development than the club's immediate depth chart or fortunes. Will the tougher sledding make him stronger? Or will he simply be overwhelmed?
Obviously that's the line in the sand the Flames are trying to define with Backlund this preseason. I think we can assume that if Sutter/Keenan think he'd be better served by playing here than in Sweden, then a roster spot/cap room will be cleared to make it happen.
And if Backlund gets tapped on the shoulder, I think what we should expect is (from what I've seen and heard so far):
- Some initial struggles while he gets acclimatized to the faster game.
- Carefully managed ice-time with decent line mates.
- Only marginally good results (35-40 points, -5 to -10).
- One of the existing centers goes away by the deadline (Langkow, Lombardi, Primeau, etc.).
Backlund as a Calgary Flame at 19 years old would be less about him making a positive impact this year and more about getting his feet wet/grooming him to be an impact player for the near future. For an example see: Sam Gagner, whose rookie season followed a similar arc to the hypothetical one I suggest for Backlund above. The Oilers got a bunch of Gagner's primary growing pains out of the way by promoting him last season and now he's poised to be a legitimate top 6 option for them this year. The Flames might be able to do the same with Backlund this season (for next season), assuming he can make the leap without being ruined.
Flames Preview (another one)
I have an extensive preview posted over at Oilersnation. I borrowed a lot of material from this summer, so it'll be something of a clip-show episode for any regular readers of this space. Still, there's some new stuff (and the arrangement is new!) so check it out anyways.
Also, make sure to leave fawning comments to insulate me from the inevitable Oiler fan rebukes.
Also, make sure to leave fawning comments to insulate me from the inevitable Oiler fan rebukes.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Cuts and hammers
Well, after the 8-2 ass-whomping of a tired Panthers team, the Flames finally ended the suspense and sent a bunch of guys back to their respective teams. Gone are 17 players, most of whom will be reporting to Quad Cities. That group includes:
Carpentier, Chucko, Van Der Gulik, Watt, Ryder and Irving.
The lone Junior aged player left (aside from Backlund) was Negrin and he was finally returned to Kootenay as well.
Most of the players cut didn't play too much this pre-season, including my favored prospect punching bag Kris Chucko. The former first rounder will be heading into his third pro season this year and only managed to appear in one exhibition game, playing just 8 minutes. Get out the "bust" tag.
More notably, there are actually some hopefuls still around with the pre-season winding down. That includes:
Adam Pardy, Matt Pelech, Kyle Greentree, Jamie Lundmark, John Armstrong, Matt Keetley, Brandon Prust and Mikael Backlund.
Of those guys, I'd have to say Pardy has quietly had the most successful training camp thus far, playing a major role in 3 of the 4 games. Matt Pelech has also been decent while word is Lundmark is doing everything in his power to stick with the big team. Mikael Backlund has been up-and-down, which is what can be expected from a 19 year old getting his first taste of the NHL. Brandon Prust hasn't done anything besides get in a fight...but, as we all know, he has a one-way contract, so...
Of that list, I would think that Pardy has the best chance of sticking with the team. Either as a 7th defenseman (once the Warrener/Eriksson/salary cap boondoggle is sorted) or as an injury call up once Aucoin goes down with some ailment. Pardy is now 24, was a stand-out at last summers camp, and has been a playing 20+ minute/night "top pairing" type role this September. The org is giving him a long look for a reason is what Im getting at I guess.
Perhaps the most surprising lingerer is 20 year old John Armstrong. Although still eligible to return to the OHL as an over-ager, it looks like Armstrong is headed to Quad Cities, and likely a prominent role there judging from his performance the last few weeks. He came in just under Hugo Carpentier by my NHL equivalence calculations earlier this summer, but certainly seems to have bumped himself up the depth chart by his impressive showing so far. It'll be interesting to see how he does in the last few games.
Carpentier, Chucko, Van Der Gulik, Watt, Ryder and Irving.
The lone Junior aged player left (aside from Backlund) was Negrin and he was finally returned to Kootenay as well.
Most of the players cut didn't play too much this pre-season, including my favored prospect punching bag Kris Chucko. The former first rounder will be heading into his third pro season this year and only managed to appear in one exhibition game, playing just 8 minutes. Get out the "bust" tag.
More notably, there are actually some hopefuls still around with the pre-season winding down. That includes:
Adam Pardy, Matt Pelech, Kyle Greentree, Jamie Lundmark, John Armstrong, Matt Keetley, Brandon Prust and Mikael Backlund.
Of those guys, I'd have to say Pardy has quietly had the most successful training camp thus far, playing a major role in 3 of the 4 games. Matt Pelech has also been decent while word is Lundmark is doing everything in his power to stick with the big team. Mikael Backlund has been up-and-down, which is what can be expected from a 19 year old getting his first taste of the NHL. Brandon Prust hasn't done anything besides get in a fight...but, as we all know, he has a one-way contract, so...
Of that list, I would think that Pardy has the best chance of sticking with the team. Either as a 7th defenseman (once the Warrener/Eriksson/salary cap boondoggle is sorted) or as an injury call up once Aucoin goes down with some ailment. Pardy is now 24, was a stand-out at last summers camp, and has been a playing 20+ minute/night "top pairing" type role this September. The org is giving him a long look for a reason is what Im getting at I guess.
Perhaps the most surprising lingerer is 20 year old John Armstrong. Although still eligible to return to the OHL as an over-ager, it looks like Armstrong is headed to Quad Cities, and likely a prominent role there judging from his performance the last few weeks. He came in just under Hugo Carpentier by my NHL equivalence calculations earlier this summer, but certainly seems to have bumped himself up the depth chart by his impressive showing so far. It'll be interesting to see how he does in the last few games.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Another panthers pregame - exhaustion
Im incredibly busy today with stuff coming from all sides, so just a quick preview before the final of 4 games in a row here*.
(*aside - what a ridiculous schedule).
1.) I didn't watch or listen to the Coyotes game last night, so I can't offer any observations. All I know is what I can glean from the game sheets and that the competition was so pillowy-soft that any results should be viewed with extreme caution anyways. Notables:
- Lombardi has been a 20 minute/night player in both games, getting ample time in all situations. I like, I like.
- Kris Chucko got all of 8 minutes last night and didn't make a dent (aside from taking a penalty). Send the guy down already.
- Cory Sarich has picked up where he left off last regular season, taking 6 minutes in penalties last night. That guy has absolutely got to figure out how to take less minors this year.
- Mikael Backlund has yet to make a mark on the score sheet, although it sounds like it isn't from lack of chances: last night he had a goal called back (Vandermeeer in the crease) and his effort at the empty net hit the post.
2.) Inside the Flames has the potential line-up for tonight already posted:
Bourque-Langkow-Boyd
Bertuzzi-Backlund-Cammalleri
Glencross-Lundmark-Moss
Prust-Conroy-Primeau
Pardy-Phaneuf
Eriksson-Warrener
Sarich-Giordano
Looks like Boyd gets another turn at the top of the rotation and Keenan has decided to put together my NIGHTMARE PAIRING on the back-end (try to guess which one it is! First person to guess wins a hearty golf-clap).
Also notable is the fact that a huge swath of camp invitees still haven't seen game action (Spang, Trembley, Ryder, Seitsonen, Wilson, Cole, Watt, Germyn, Palin, P. Vandermeer). What the point of keeping all these guys around when they clearly aren't in the mix is beyond me. Im particularly surprised that poor old Carsen Germyn hasn't gotten a sniff, if only because he's a training camp vet and a shoe-in to be a main contributor on the farm. Oh well...still 3 games left I suppose (although opportunities tend to narrow for fringe players as pre-season matures).
(*aside - what a ridiculous schedule).
1.) I didn't watch or listen to the Coyotes game last night, so I can't offer any observations. All I know is what I can glean from the game sheets and that the competition was so pillowy-soft that any results should be viewed with extreme caution anyways. Notables:
- Lombardi has been a 20 minute/night player in both games, getting ample time in all situations. I like, I like.
- Kris Chucko got all of 8 minutes last night and didn't make a dent (aside from taking a penalty). Send the guy down already.
- Cory Sarich has picked up where he left off last regular season, taking 6 minutes in penalties last night. That guy has absolutely got to figure out how to take less minors this year.
- Mikael Backlund has yet to make a mark on the score sheet, although it sounds like it isn't from lack of chances: last night he had a goal called back (Vandermeeer in the crease) and his effort at the empty net hit the post.
2.) Inside the Flames has the potential line-up for tonight already posted:
Bourque-Langkow-Boyd
Bertuzzi-Backlund-Cammalleri
Glencross-Lundmark-Moss
Prust-Conroy-Primeau
Pardy-Phaneuf
Eriksson-Warrener
Sarich-Giordano
Looks like Boyd gets another turn at the top of the rotation and Keenan has decided to put together my NIGHTMARE PAIRING on the back-end (try to guess which one it is! First person to guess wins a hearty golf-clap).
Also notable is the fact that a huge swath of camp invitees still haven't seen game action (Spang, Trembley, Ryder, Seitsonen, Wilson, Cole, Watt, Germyn, Palin, P. Vandermeer). What the point of keeping all these guys around when they clearly aren't in the mix is beyond me. Im particularly surprised that poor old Carsen Germyn hasn't gotten a sniff, if only because he's a training camp vet and a shoe-in to be a main contributor on the farm. Oh well...still 3 games left I suppose (although opportunities tend to narrow for fringe players as pre-season matures).
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Pre-season pregame part three: PRE-GAMIER.
We keep rolling along here, game three of four in four nights. Expect an unruly mix of established vets and training camp scraps to be dressed tonight. Via Cruickshank at Inside the Flames, looks like the roster will be:
Todd Bertuzzi-Matthew Lombardi-Jarome Iginla
Michael Cammalleri-Mikael Backlund-Curtis Glencross
Brett Sutter-John Armstrong-Kris Chucko
Eric Nystrom-Warren Peters-Andre Roy
Robyn Regehr-Cory Sarich
Jim Vandermeer-Adrian Aucoin
Anders Eriksson-John Negrin
That leaves guys like Spang, Tremblay, Pete Vandermeer, Seitsonen, Wilson, Palin, Watt and Germyn without an appearance three days in.
Also, Lombo gets his annual pre-season turn at centering Iginla while guys like Chucko, Sutter and Peters will see game action for the first time. Im most looking forward to my first look at Mikael Backlund in a game situation, personally.
Anyays...*If you're thinking that...*
*Sutter, Armstrong and Chucko will get torched* You're RIGHT.
*Kipper will be strong in his first appearance* You're WRONG.
*Prospects who haven't seen action yet are low on the "will make an impact in this organization" totem pole* You're RIGHT.
*John Negrin appreciates being paired with Anders Eriksson again* You're WRONG.
*Matthew Lombardi is attractive* You're A GIRL. Or GAY.
*My Dimentia is advancing at an ever increasing rate despite our supposedly Utopian, all-inclusive health-care system" You're A BUNNY RABBIT.
Go Flames!
Todd Bertuzzi-Matthew Lombardi-Jarome Iginla
Michael Cammalleri-Mikael Backlund-Curtis Glencross
Brett Sutter-John Armstrong-Kris Chucko
Eric Nystrom-Warren Peters-Andre Roy
Robyn Regehr-Cory Sarich
Jim Vandermeer-Adrian Aucoin
Anders Eriksson-John Negrin
That leaves guys like Spang, Tremblay, Pete Vandermeer, Seitsonen, Wilson, Palin, Watt and Germyn without an appearance three days in.
Also, Lombo gets his annual pre-season turn at centering Iginla while guys like Chucko, Sutter and Peters will see game action for the first time. Im most looking forward to my first look at Mikael Backlund in a game situation, personally.
Anyays...*If you're thinking that...*
*Sutter, Armstrong and Chucko will get torched* You're RIGHT.
*Kipper will be strong in his first appearance* You're WRONG.
*Prospects who haven't seen action yet are low on the "will make an impact in this organization" totem pole* You're RIGHT.
*John Negrin appreciates being paired with Anders Eriksson again* You're WRONG.
*Matthew Lombardi is attractive* You're A GIRL. Or GAY.
*My Dimentia is advancing at an ever increasing rate despite our supposedly Utopian, all-inclusive health-care system" You're A BUNNY RABBIT.
Go Flames!
'Pegger impressions
Having actually watching the game with mine own eyes, my observations of last nights game are more fulsome than the Florida affair.
The Bad:
Dion Phaneuf - Was simply awful. He looked to me like a young man who had been reading his press clippings all summer. He was at both lax and over-courageous with the puck, frequently forcing passes into risky areas. His first shift was a disaster where he gave the puck away at his own blueline, lost his check in front of the net and then fell onto Keetley, just to fully ensure the goal against. Thank god it's pre-season.
Brandon Prust - Two nights of Prust now and I can't fathom why this guy has a one way contract. I expected to notice the him a lot this pre-season, given he's billed as a pest, but he's been pretty much invisible. His other skills (skating, passing, etc.) are obviously AHL quality.
Wayne Primeau - Looks like a veteran among rookies sometimes. However, all the other issues with Primeau are apparent, even against this level of competition. The play frequently dies on his stick and he isn't particularly good at anything. There was a sequence last night where his line (Prust and Armstrong I think) was working the cycle in the offensive zone. The puck trickled to Primeau behind the net where he proceeded to lamely fish for it with one hand on his stick. One one thousand...two one thousad...Primeau still doesn't have control (he's standing still mind you) annnnddd now the puck's been taken away and the attack is over. In the regular season, the play would have lasted half as long but the result would have been the same.
Craig Conroy - Struggled to my eyes last night. A lot. Gave up a bunch of neutral zone and offensive zone turn-overs. The thing that strikes me about Connie is his legs are still going like he's 28, but his hands are 37. Handles the puck like it's a tennis ball.
Andre Roy - Obviously a more capable hockey player than Godard, but that isn't saying much. Got one punched in his lone fight and will still likely be a 5-7 minute/night player.
The Good:
Dustin Boyd - Has probably been the best Flame player so far in the pre-season. He was forcing low percentage plays early on in the game, but settled down as the night wore on. Besides his offensive flair, which is on display thanks to the ice and line mates he's getting so far, Boyd looks a lot stronger on his skates. For example, a nameless Coyote player tried to squeeze Boyd out of the play along the boadrs twice in one shift. Both times, Boyd shrugged him off like he was a nuisance. Great to see.
Adam Pardy - Was saddled with Chaos Dion all night, so he looked at little scrambly at first. Still, ended up leading the Flames in ice-time for the second night in a row and looks really, really comfortable at both ends of the ice considering he's rookie. Not spectacular at anything, he does tend to get around and frequently makes the right plays. I think the org is giving him a long look for injury call-up, 7th D duties.
Mark Giordano - Reminded me of why I like him. Gio has a unique set of skills that aren't replicated on the roster; particularly when it comes to his penchant for grabbing the puck and rushing it through traffic up the ice. He was also full value in the defensive zone last night, breaking up plays and was positionally sound.
Matt Pelech - May have to ratchet up his mobility a bit to be an everyday player, but I liked what I saw otherwise. Seems to make a lot of safe plays and reads the play well. Big guy with an active stick, he also made a nice read/play for his goal (although no way that shot goes in on an NHL goalie).
Rene Bourque - Bourque has impressed me so far. Guy is a big, fast, rangy skater and you can see defenders start to panic when he's coming at them in full stride. Not afraid to muck it up, either. He probably had the most scoring chances last night.
Daymond Langkow - Obviously the best Flames forward in terms of ability and savvy. Langkow was going at half speed and still looked more than comfortable.
David Moss - Quietly so effective. Moss looks bigger and faster to me this year and always seems to make the right play. Made a nice deke at the blueline for what would have been a scoring chance but for an unlucky offside call. Moss will be one of those under appreciated yet invaluable assets who can play on any line effectively.
Commci Commca:
John Armstrong - WI really likes him and I can sometimes see why. Other times, he looks like a kid struggling to keep his head above water. And his big, awkward skating stride kind of bothers me. Still, he gets around and seems to have his head on his shoulders in the offensive zone. Needs some seasoning for sure, as his decision making and hands are still going at Junior speed.
Rhett Warrener - I have to hand it to the old warrior, he's come to camp with a chip on his shoulder. Just mean and fierce all night, handing out hits and snark. Looked very comfortable and capable until real competition (ie: Shane Doan) stepped on the ice.
David van Der Gulik - Made a nifty head-fake to generate scoring chance in the second I believe. Still, didn't notice him all that much (although he kinda looks like Langkow with his choppy, compact skating style). No major errors to speak of though.
Matt Keetley - Can't really fault him on either of the goals, although he was flopping around on the second one. Looked fairly capable but didn't have to make any mind-blowing saves either as the Coyotes didn't offer up much of a fight after the first period.
Kyle Greentree - Big guy who isn't afraid to make power moves down low and take the puck to the net. He almost stuffed a couple through last night. When he wasn't doing that, however, I didn't notice him at all.
Both teams dressed highly suspect line-ups featuring mostly kids and bottom 6 players, so the level of play was decidedly low last night. The ice was also pretty bad, which complicated things further. Still, I think there was further wheat/chaffe separation one looks for in the pre-season.
Find Matt's take here.
UPDATE - Looks like Illegal Curve's Richard Pollack was at the game last night. He evaluates Flames players here. His take on Giordano, whom he was unfamiliar with:
You can see why the Flames brought him back after a year in Russia. He is a slick-skating defenseman who is very, very good with the puck. That is precisely what the Flames lacked on the back-end last year and I think some may be understating the importance of his return on the blueline.
The Bad:
Dion Phaneuf - Was simply awful. He looked to me like a young man who had been reading his press clippings all summer. He was at both lax and over-courageous with the puck, frequently forcing passes into risky areas. His first shift was a disaster where he gave the puck away at his own blueline, lost his check in front of the net and then fell onto Keetley, just to fully ensure the goal against. Thank god it's pre-season.
Brandon Prust - Two nights of Prust now and I can't fathom why this guy has a one way contract. I expected to notice the him a lot this pre-season, given he's billed as a pest, but he's been pretty much invisible. His other skills (skating, passing, etc.) are obviously AHL quality.
Wayne Primeau - Looks like a veteran among rookies sometimes. However, all the other issues with Primeau are apparent, even against this level of competition. The play frequently dies on his stick and he isn't particularly good at anything. There was a sequence last night where his line (Prust and Armstrong I think) was working the cycle in the offensive zone. The puck trickled to Primeau behind the net where he proceeded to lamely fish for it with one hand on his stick. One one thousand...two one thousad...Primeau still doesn't have control (he's standing still mind you) annnnddd now the puck's been taken away and the attack is over. In the regular season, the play would have lasted half as long but the result would have been the same.
Craig Conroy - Struggled to my eyes last night. A lot. Gave up a bunch of neutral zone and offensive zone turn-overs. The thing that strikes me about Connie is his legs are still going like he's 28, but his hands are 37. Handles the puck like it's a tennis ball.
Andre Roy - Obviously a more capable hockey player than Godard, but that isn't saying much. Got one punched in his lone fight and will still likely be a 5-7 minute/night player.
The Good:
Dustin Boyd - Has probably been the best Flame player so far in the pre-season. He was forcing low percentage plays early on in the game, but settled down as the night wore on. Besides his offensive flair, which is on display thanks to the ice and line mates he's getting so far, Boyd looks a lot stronger on his skates. For example, a nameless Coyote player tried to squeeze Boyd out of the play along the boadrs twice in one shift. Both times, Boyd shrugged him off like he was a nuisance. Great to see.
Adam Pardy - Was saddled with Chaos Dion all night, so he looked at little scrambly at first. Still, ended up leading the Flames in ice-time for the second night in a row and looks really, really comfortable at both ends of the ice considering he's rookie. Not spectacular at anything, he does tend to get around and frequently makes the right plays. I think the org is giving him a long look for injury call-up, 7th D duties.
Mark Giordano - Reminded me of why I like him. Gio has a unique set of skills that aren't replicated on the roster; particularly when it comes to his penchant for grabbing the puck and rushing it through traffic up the ice. He was also full value in the defensive zone last night, breaking up plays and was positionally sound.
Matt Pelech - May have to ratchet up his mobility a bit to be an everyday player, but I liked what I saw otherwise. Seems to make a lot of safe plays and reads the play well. Big guy with an active stick, he also made a nice read/play for his goal (although no way that shot goes in on an NHL goalie).
Rene Bourque - Bourque has impressed me so far. Guy is a big, fast, rangy skater and you can see defenders start to panic when he's coming at them in full stride. Not afraid to muck it up, either. He probably had the most scoring chances last night.
Daymond Langkow - Obviously the best Flames forward in terms of ability and savvy. Langkow was going at half speed and still looked more than comfortable.
David Moss - Quietly so effective. Moss looks bigger and faster to me this year and always seems to make the right play. Made a nice deke at the blueline for what would have been a scoring chance but for an unlucky offside call. Moss will be one of those under appreciated yet invaluable assets who can play on any line effectively.
Commci Commca:
John Armstrong - WI really likes him and I can sometimes see why. Other times, he looks like a kid struggling to keep his head above water. And his big, awkward skating stride kind of bothers me. Still, he gets around and seems to have his head on his shoulders in the offensive zone. Needs some seasoning for sure, as his decision making and hands are still going at Junior speed.
Rhett Warrener - I have to hand it to the old warrior, he's come to camp with a chip on his shoulder. Just mean and fierce all night, handing out hits and snark. Looked very comfortable and capable until real competition (ie: Shane Doan) stepped on the ice.
David van Der Gulik - Made a nifty head-fake to generate scoring chance in the second I believe. Still, didn't notice him all that much (although he kinda looks like Langkow with his choppy, compact skating style). No major errors to speak of though.
Matt Keetley - Can't really fault him on either of the goals, although he was flopping around on the second one. Looked fairly capable but didn't have to make any mind-blowing saves either as the Coyotes didn't offer up much of a fight after the first period.
Kyle Greentree - Big guy who isn't afraid to make power moves down low and take the puck to the net. He almost stuffed a couple through last night. When he wasn't doing that, however, I didn't notice him at all.
Both teams dressed highly suspect line-ups featuring mostly kids and bottom 6 players, so the level of play was decidedly low last night. The ice was also pretty bad, which complicated things further. Still, I think there was further wheat/chaffe separation one looks for in the pre-season.
Find Matt's take here.
UPDATE - Looks like Illegal Curve's Richard Pollack was at the game last night. He evaluates Flames players here. His take on Giordano, whom he was unfamiliar with:
You can see why the Flames brought him back after a year in Russia. He is a slick-skating defenseman who is very, very good with the puck. That is precisely what the Flames lacked on the back-end last year and I think some may be understating the importance of his return on the blueline.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
'Pegger pre-season preview
The Flames and Coyotes meet in Winnipeg tonight in a exhibition tilt that could be sub-titled "cruel cock-tease for miserable hockey fans trapped in the armpit of Canada". But I digress...
Nothing much to talk about here, since I have no idea who will be playing tonight. No official roster releases yet, although Im fairly sure a lot of the excluded vets from last night will show up this evening. Think: Langkow, Conroy, Phaneuf, Giordano, Warrener, Vandermeer, Roy and Cammalleri. Some kids who might be hoping for a look-see are: Van Der Gulik, Chucko, Pelech and Greentree. In addition, I expect some of the stand-outs from last night to get another kick at the cat. Probably: Backlund, Pardy and/or Boyd. I would also bet on Matt Keetley getting the start.
The good news for other obsessives like me is that the game is being televised by Sportsnet. No need to sit lonely by a radio for half the night or (worse) rely on the 2nd hand notes of some rube who did the lonely radio-sitting and note-taking (see below).
Anyways, if my roster list above is at all accurate, I'll be keeping an eye on Giordano, Cammalleri, Van Der Gulik (who has been skating with Conroy in practice so far) and Greentree. I'll attempt to notice Chucko, but that has proven difficult in pre-seasons past. Feel free to share your own priority list.
UPDATE - It's being reported by Peter Maher that Cammalleri "tweaked his hip" during practice a few days ago and will be held out of tonights game for precautionary reasons. Boo!
Nothing much to talk about here, since I have no idea who will be playing tonight. No official roster releases yet, although Im fairly sure a lot of the excluded vets from last night will show up this evening. Think: Langkow, Conroy, Phaneuf, Giordano, Warrener, Vandermeer, Roy and Cammalleri. Some kids who might be hoping for a look-see are: Van Der Gulik, Chucko, Pelech and Greentree. In addition, I expect some of the stand-outs from last night to get another kick at the cat. Probably: Backlund, Pardy and/or Boyd. I would also bet on Matt Keetley getting the start.
The good news for other obsessives like me is that the game is being televised by Sportsnet. No need to sit lonely by a radio for half the night or (worse) rely on the 2nd hand notes of some rube who did the lonely radio-sitting and note-taking (see below).
Anyways, if my roster list above is at all accurate, I'll be keeping an eye on Giordano, Cammalleri, Van Der Gulik (who has been skating with Conroy in practice so far) and Greentree. I'll attempt to notice Chucko, but that has proven difficult in pre-seasons past. Feel free to share your own priority list.
UPDATE - It's being reported by Peter Maher that Cammalleri "tweaked his hip" during practice a few days ago and will be held out of tonights game for precautionary reasons. Boo!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Flames vs. Panthers game notes...
"live blogging" a pre-season game seems pretty silly. But Im doing it anyway.
First Period
- Anderson in net for the Cats. Sounds like Bouwmeester and Cullimore are the "#1" pair.
- First shift: Backlund et al. with Sarich and Regehr vs. Weiss line
Nothing of note. Play ends with Panthers shot on goal.
- Lundmark hits the post with the next shift but ends up with a penalty.
- PK: Bourque and Lombardi show up about a minute into the kill and do a good job. I have a feeling we'll see them together SH a lot.
- Flames take a second penalty (Aucoin) with three seconds left on the PK. Apparently, Calgary is running around in their own end.
- Panthers are controlling the puck and generating chances by the sounds of it.
- "Even though he played last year and played well for this team..." talking about Nystrom. I agree with the first half.
- Flames finish the PK and generate a couple shots with the next shift. Iginla et al. draw a Florida penalty.
PP: Iginla, Backlund, Bertuzzi start off. They dont accomplish anything.
Boyd, Lundmark and Moss generate a couple chances in the latter half, but can't bury it.
- Lombardi and Bourque execute a 2on1, ending with Anderson making a big save. Sounds like the best chance of the period.
- Primeau, Prust and Nystrom get their first ES shift.
Back and forth. Nothing of note.
- 7 minutes left and it's the first time I've heard Glencross mentioned. I dont know if he's been limited in terms of ice or just a non-factor.
- Some back and forth the last 5 minutes, with Florida getting the bulk of the shots. They draw another penalty (Regehr) with about 5 minutes remaining.
PK: Primeau immediately draws a penalty, making it 4 on 4.
- I've heard Lundmark's name a lot this period. Sounds like he's come to camp on a mission.
- Lombardi, Boyd and Bourque line cause some havoc in the good end of the rink for a whole shift. Sounds like that might be the best trio so far.
- With a few minutes left, the panthers get their 4th PP of the period (Negrin). Blah.
PK: Weiss and Bouwmeester are fixtures on the Panthers PP unit so far.
McelHinney sounds solid in net so far.
Lombardi draws a cheer form the crowd thanks to his excellent PKing. Boyd gets in on the action and the Flames draw a Panthers penalty. Back to 4on4 for 25 seconds.
PP: Backlund et al get another chance, with Pardy and Aucoin on the blueline. They control the puck for a majority of the man advantage, but can't cash in.
- Lombardi generates another shot on net before the end of the period.
SOG 9-9. Score: 0-0.
Hard to assess the performances of various pieces due to the excessive special teams. Seems to my ear that Lombardi was maybe the best Flame forward that period, even though he didn't really get much PP time. Also heard good things about John Negrin, despite him taking a penalty.
- Mike Rogers and Rob Kerr Discussing Backlund - apparently looked comfortable and didn't panic with the puck. Also drew a penalty.
- Rogers agrees with my assessment re: Lombardi and linemates. Kerr claims that Lundmark was the best player that period for Calgary, which sounds reasonable considering how much I heard from him. Lombardi actually led all shooters with 3 shots on net.
2nd Period
- Iginla et al. start off the period again.
Teams exchange chances, with the Panthers pressing and finally scoring. David Booth puts it home.
Mike Rogers describing the play afterwards: "The goal all started with a HORRENDOUS give-away by Anders Eriksson, shooting the puck up the middle in his own end..." I wish I was kidding.
- Panthers take a penalty right after the goal and the Flames get their 4th PP.
PP: Moss gets some time with Lundmark, but nothing much happens.
Iginla's line comes on for the latter half. Backlund gets a good chance but fires it wide.
Bourque/Lombardi/Glencross get the scraps (15 seconds) on the PP. Again, no result.
Sounds like the club is fairly out of sync right now.
- Panthers generating the bulk of shots and chances so far. Three straight shifts of Florida pretty much dominating by the sounds of it. Flames dont have a SOG yet I believe.
- Backlund et al back out. Eriksson has another pass picked off in a bad spot, but nothing comes of it this time.
- Lombardi gets the Flames first shot of the period, glancing a wrist shot off of Anderson's arm.
- Sarich gives it away and Weiss almost converts. No question which club is "on" this period.
- A few minutes of back and forth with nothing of note occurring.
- "Puck back to Eriksson at the blueline...it gets away from him..." I've heard Bubba's name 3 times this period. Each time it's been associated with some kind of screw-up.
- Backlund has a rough shift mid-way through the period, having two errant passes picked off. Nothing comes of it however.
- According to Rogers, Florida has been winning most of the puck battles thus far.
- The Weiss/Booth line has sounded dangerous throughout this period. Booth is a keeper for sure. I watched him a bit last season and his underlying stats by the end of the year were stellar. He's poised to break out if he gets any kind of PP time.
- Flames score: Lundmark takes a shot and Boyd buries the rebound. Good news for both guys who are fighting for roster spots (albeit different spots no doubt).
- Flames spring to life after the goal, with some notable shifts by the Lombardi and Iginla lines.
- Iginla et al pick up where they left off before the whistle, generating a chance off the face-off.
- Panthers respond as the teams exchange chances, but the game remains tied.
- The game settles into a blase rhythm where neither team gets much done. Only about 3 minutes left in the period.
- Weiss line again spending lots of time in the offensive zone. The Panthers really need that guy to put it together this season, especially with the departure of Jokinen.
- Iginla charges into the zone and draws a holding penalty against Cullimore.
PP: Lundmark, Boyd and Moss get the start. The trio generates a couple of shots and legitimate scoring chances.
Flames Score: Iginla jumps over the boards and promptly puts a Boyd pass into the net. Boyd having a whale of a second period, which is music to my ears. Period ends.
Score: 2-1 Flames. SOG: 16-17.
The Panthers carried the play early on, but Calgary came to life after the Boyd goal and took it to Florida in the second half. Didn't hear as much from Lombardi's line that period, but Boyd and Lundmark really put together some nice shifts.
- Surprising stat after two: Pardy leads Flames skaters in ice-time with 14:16! I haven't heard much of anything from Pardy so far; considering how much ice-time he's had, that's probably a good thing.
- Rogers and Kerr talk about Negrin during the intermission. Kerr asserts that he looks like one of the best defenders for the Flames and agree that he's a sure-fire future NHLer. Compare his style to Jordan Leopold, which, if true, is great news.
Talk moves to veterans who are apparently struggling (Sarich, Aucoin and Eriksson). I can only hope his continued sucking in the pre-season has sealed Bubba's fate for good. Rogers continues the pile-on by saying that Eriksson was worst player on the ice...for both teams.
3rd Period
- Final period begins with the Flames "#1" line again versus the Weiss unit.
Both teams have shots that dont make it to the net.
- Lundmark and Boyd get their first shift and almost hook-up again. They spend the majority of the shift in the Panthers zone, but the play ends with Mcelhinney making a big save on Anthony Stewart off the rush.
- John Negrin takes his second penalty of the game. Not the best way to get your name on the score sheet.
PK: Nystrom starts a man down. Haven't heard much from him so far (sounds about right).
Panthers control the puck, but can't get the job done. Moss manages to knock the puck out of play, defusing the pressure.
- Lombardi and Bourque out on the PK again and manage to pressure the bad guys all over the ice, disallowing any kind of attack.
- Glencross finally shows up and gets a big time opportunity at the end of the PK. His initial shot and rebound are turned aside, however.
- Bertuzzi, Iginla and Backlund get something going, but the rookies shot is unfortunately blocked at the last minute.
- Panthers take another penalty with Primeau's line on the ice.
PP: Lundmarks unit gets the start again, probably owing to their strong play.
- Lundmark gets a good chance and his slap-shot literally injures Craig Anderson. What a game for this guy.
- Lombardi's line finally gets some time with the extra-man. They generate several close in shots, but dont score.
- Iginla's line comes out for the end of the PP. Backlund gets another shot and this one finally gets on net. Flames are outshooting Florida 9-1.
- After the Panthers miss a close-in chance, Todd Bertuzzi gets a break-away but shoots a back-hand wide. Shortly thereafter, Anderson robs Primeau at the side of the net. The game has certainly come alive.
- Weiss and Frolic get another good chance, but McEl stones them. Sounds like the kid is having a pretty good game.
- Just as I type that, Olesz ties it up thanks to a turn-over deep in the Flames end. I wonder if it was Eriksson (I honestly dont know, but I have my suspicions).
- Flames promptly give up another quality chance and then take a penalty. This sounds like the exact opposite of the previous period.
Guess who was on the ice for the afoermentioned big chance against? Eriksson!
Guess who's in the penalty box!...
PK: Florida controls play at the onset and generate some shots and chances. Bouwmeester gets an excellent chance, but is stopped. Rogers says the Panthers have the Flames running around, but Mcelhinney has been equal to the task.
- Iginla's line comes on after the PK with about 6 minutes left in the period. They dont do anything of note. Bertuzzi seems to be losing the puck down low in the offensive zone a bunch.
- Just saw the highlights on the ol' tube. Both Flames goals were fantastic plays by Boyd. particularly the 2nd marker, where he threaded a pass through about 4 Florida defenders. Good stuff.
- With about 4 minutes left, Bouwmeester scores what is described as an unbelievable goal. He's a great player and should be available around the trade deadline this season.
- Panthers are pressing to put this away, with Booth almost potting his second of the game.
- Iginla's line back out with just over a minute left. Both Backlund and Bertuzzi are -2 so far. Again, they dont anything done.
- Flames can't make the come-back and the Panthers win the game, 3-2.
Pretty inauspicious debut for Backlund, who was scored on a couple of times and failed to get any points. Bertuzzi also sounded unimpressive. Of course, the worst of them all was Eriksson, who had the color crew all over him for his crap play all night. Please make him go away Mr.Sutter!
On the other hand, great game for Dustin Boyd and Jamie Lundmark, especially the former who was named the first start of the game. Didn't hear much from guys like Glencross, Prust or Nystrom, which isn't what I should be saying about fringe players in the pre-season.
First Period
- Anderson in net for the Cats. Sounds like Bouwmeester and Cullimore are the "#1" pair.
- First shift: Backlund et al. with Sarich and Regehr vs. Weiss line
Nothing of note. Play ends with Panthers shot on goal.
- Lundmark hits the post with the next shift but ends up with a penalty.
- PK: Bourque and Lombardi show up about a minute into the kill and do a good job. I have a feeling we'll see them together SH a lot.
- Flames take a second penalty (Aucoin) with three seconds left on the PK. Apparently, Calgary is running around in their own end.
- Panthers are controlling the puck and generating chances by the sounds of it.
- "Even though he played last year and played well for this team..." talking about Nystrom. I agree with the first half.
- Flames finish the PK and generate a couple shots with the next shift. Iginla et al. draw a Florida penalty.
PP: Iginla, Backlund, Bertuzzi start off. They dont accomplish anything.
Boyd, Lundmark and Moss generate a couple chances in the latter half, but can't bury it.
- Lombardi and Bourque execute a 2on1, ending with Anderson making a big save. Sounds like the best chance of the period.
- Primeau, Prust and Nystrom get their first ES shift.
Back and forth. Nothing of note.
- 7 minutes left and it's the first time I've heard Glencross mentioned. I dont know if he's been limited in terms of ice or just a non-factor.
- Some back and forth the last 5 minutes, with Florida getting the bulk of the shots. They draw another penalty (Regehr) with about 5 minutes remaining.
PK: Primeau immediately draws a penalty, making it 4 on 4.
- I've heard Lundmark's name a lot this period. Sounds like he's come to camp on a mission.
- Lombardi, Boyd and Bourque line cause some havoc in the good end of the rink for a whole shift. Sounds like that might be the best trio so far.
- With a few minutes left, the panthers get their 4th PP of the period (Negrin). Blah.
PK: Weiss and Bouwmeester are fixtures on the Panthers PP unit so far.
McelHinney sounds solid in net so far.
Lombardi draws a cheer form the crowd thanks to his excellent PKing. Boyd gets in on the action and the Flames draw a Panthers penalty. Back to 4on4 for 25 seconds.
PP: Backlund et al get another chance, with Pardy and Aucoin on the blueline. They control the puck for a majority of the man advantage, but can't cash in.
- Lombardi generates another shot on net before the end of the period.
SOG 9-9. Score: 0-0.
Hard to assess the performances of various pieces due to the excessive special teams. Seems to my ear that Lombardi was maybe the best Flame forward that period, even though he didn't really get much PP time. Also heard good things about John Negrin, despite him taking a penalty.
- Mike Rogers and Rob Kerr Discussing Backlund - apparently looked comfortable and didn't panic with the puck. Also drew a penalty.
- Rogers agrees with my assessment re: Lombardi and linemates. Kerr claims that Lundmark was the best player that period for Calgary, which sounds reasonable considering how much I heard from him. Lombardi actually led all shooters with 3 shots on net.
2nd Period
- Iginla et al. start off the period again.
Teams exchange chances, with the Panthers pressing and finally scoring. David Booth puts it home.
Mike Rogers describing the play afterwards: "The goal all started with a HORRENDOUS give-away by Anders Eriksson, shooting the puck up the middle in his own end..." I wish I was kidding.
- Panthers take a penalty right after the goal and the Flames get their 4th PP.
PP: Moss gets some time with Lundmark, but nothing much happens.
Iginla's line comes on for the latter half. Backlund gets a good chance but fires it wide.
Bourque/Lombardi/Glencross get the scraps (15 seconds) on the PP. Again, no result.
Sounds like the club is fairly out of sync right now.
- Panthers generating the bulk of shots and chances so far. Three straight shifts of Florida pretty much dominating by the sounds of it. Flames dont have a SOG yet I believe.
- Backlund et al back out. Eriksson has another pass picked off in a bad spot, but nothing comes of it this time.
- Lombardi gets the Flames first shot of the period, glancing a wrist shot off of Anderson's arm.
- Sarich gives it away and Weiss almost converts. No question which club is "on" this period.
- A few minutes of back and forth with nothing of note occurring.
- "Puck back to Eriksson at the blueline...it gets away from him..." I've heard Bubba's name 3 times this period. Each time it's been associated with some kind of screw-up.
- Backlund has a rough shift mid-way through the period, having two errant passes picked off. Nothing comes of it however.
- According to Rogers, Florida has been winning most of the puck battles thus far.
- The Weiss/Booth line has sounded dangerous throughout this period. Booth is a keeper for sure. I watched him a bit last season and his underlying stats by the end of the year were stellar. He's poised to break out if he gets any kind of PP time.
- Flames score: Lundmark takes a shot and Boyd buries the rebound. Good news for both guys who are fighting for roster spots (albeit different spots no doubt).
- Flames spring to life after the goal, with some notable shifts by the Lombardi and Iginla lines.
- Iginla et al pick up where they left off before the whistle, generating a chance off the face-off.
- Panthers respond as the teams exchange chances, but the game remains tied.
- The game settles into a blase rhythm where neither team gets much done. Only about 3 minutes left in the period.
- Weiss line again spending lots of time in the offensive zone. The Panthers really need that guy to put it together this season, especially with the departure of Jokinen.
- Iginla charges into the zone and draws a holding penalty against Cullimore.
PP: Lundmark, Boyd and Moss get the start. The trio generates a couple of shots and legitimate scoring chances.
Flames Score: Iginla jumps over the boards and promptly puts a Boyd pass into the net. Boyd having a whale of a second period, which is music to my ears. Period ends.
Score: 2-1 Flames. SOG: 16-17.
The Panthers carried the play early on, but Calgary came to life after the Boyd goal and took it to Florida in the second half. Didn't hear as much from Lombardi's line that period, but Boyd and Lundmark really put together some nice shifts.
- Surprising stat after two: Pardy leads Flames skaters in ice-time with 14:16! I haven't heard much of anything from Pardy so far; considering how much ice-time he's had, that's probably a good thing.
- Rogers and Kerr talk about Negrin during the intermission. Kerr asserts that he looks like one of the best defenders for the Flames and agree that he's a sure-fire future NHLer. Compare his style to Jordan Leopold, which, if true, is great news.
Talk moves to veterans who are apparently struggling (Sarich, Aucoin and Eriksson). I can only hope his continued sucking in the pre-season has sealed Bubba's fate for good. Rogers continues the pile-on by saying that Eriksson was worst player on the ice...for both teams.
3rd Period
- Final period begins with the Flames "#1" line again versus the Weiss unit.
Both teams have shots that dont make it to the net.
- Lundmark and Boyd get their first shift and almost hook-up again. They spend the majority of the shift in the Panthers zone, but the play ends with Mcelhinney making a big save on Anthony Stewart off the rush.
- John Negrin takes his second penalty of the game. Not the best way to get your name on the score sheet.
PK: Nystrom starts a man down. Haven't heard much from him so far (sounds about right).
Panthers control the puck, but can't get the job done. Moss manages to knock the puck out of play, defusing the pressure.
- Lombardi and Bourque out on the PK again and manage to pressure the bad guys all over the ice, disallowing any kind of attack.
- Glencross finally shows up and gets a big time opportunity at the end of the PK. His initial shot and rebound are turned aside, however.
- Bertuzzi, Iginla and Backlund get something going, but the rookies shot is unfortunately blocked at the last minute.
- Panthers take another penalty with Primeau's line on the ice.
PP: Lundmarks unit gets the start again, probably owing to their strong play.
- Lundmark gets a good chance and his slap-shot literally injures Craig Anderson. What a game for this guy.
- Lombardi's line finally gets some time with the extra-man. They generate several close in shots, but dont score.
- Iginla's line comes out for the end of the PP. Backlund gets another shot and this one finally gets on net. Flames are outshooting Florida 9-1.
- After the Panthers miss a close-in chance, Todd Bertuzzi gets a break-away but shoots a back-hand wide. Shortly thereafter, Anderson robs Primeau at the side of the net. The game has certainly come alive.
- Weiss and Frolic get another good chance, but McEl stones them. Sounds like the kid is having a pretty good game.
- Just as I type that, Olesz ties it up thanks to a turn-over deep in the Flames end. I wonder if it was Eriksson (I honestly dont know, but I have my suspicions).
- Flames promptly give up another quality chance and then take a penalty. This sounds like the exact opposite of the previous period.
Guess who was on the ice for the afoermentioned big chance against? Eriksson!
Guess who's in the penalty box!...
PK: Florida controls play at the onset and generate some shots and chances. Bouwmeester gets an excellent chance, but is stopped. Rogers says the Panthers have the Flames running around, but Mcelhinney has been equal to the task.
- Iginla's line comes on after the PK with about 6 minutes left in the period. They dont do anything of note. Bertuzzi seems to be losing the puck down low in the offensive zone a bunch.
- Just saw the highlights on the ol' tube. Both Flames goals were fantastic plays by Boyd. particularly the 2nd marker, where he threaded a pass through about 4 Florida defenders. Good stuff.
- With about 4 minutes left, Bouwmeester scores what is described as an unbelievable goal. He's a great player and should be available around the trade deadline this season.
- Panthers are pressing to put this away, with Booth almost potting his second of the game.
- Iginla's line back out with just over a minute left. Both Backlund and Bertuzzi are -2 so far. Again, they dont anything done.
- Flames can't make the come-back and the Panthers win the game, 3-2.
Pretty inauspicious debut for Backlund, who was scored on a couple of times and failed to get any points. Bertuzzi also sounded unimpressive. Of course, the worst of them all was Eriksson, who had the color crew all over him for his crap play all night. Please make him go away Mr.Sutter!
On the other hand, great game for Dustin Boyd and Jamie Lundmark, especially the former who was named the first start of the game. Didn't hear much from guys like Glencross, Prust or Nystrom, which isn't what I should be saying about fringe players in the pre-season.
Flames vs. Panthers: Pre-season Preview numero uno
Well the first game of the season is finally upon us. It may be totally meaningless, featuring rosters half-filled with guys who may never play a real game in the NHL - but it's certainly welcome nonetheless.
Outside of evaluating the individual performances of the hopefuls, outcomes at this time of year aren't really indicative of anything. Meaning I tend to look at who showed up on the score sheet rather than the score itself.
No official releases regarding the line-up tonight so far. However, Rob Kerr was at the practice this morning and observed these lines:
Burtuzzi - Backlund - Iginla
Boyd- Lombardi - Bourque
Nystrom - Primeau - Prust
Glencross - Lundmark - Moss
Regehr - Sarich
Pardy - Aucoin
Negrin - Eriksson
That first line is obviously the most intriguing: I like the fact that Backlund is getting an opportunity with the big boys right off the bat. Assuming the trio remains intact for the majority of the contest, his results by the end of the night might be instructive. A good showing would be a strong step towards making this team out of camp (and making Sutter's budget woes a little more complicated).
Glencrosss, Lombardi (2nd fittest Flame this year!), Bourque and Prust are other forwards I'll be watching for (or listening to, as it were). And Bertuzzi, I guess *grumble*.
As for the back-end, Pardy and Negrin are the only notables. Notice that Phaneuf and Giordano aren't in the line-up, indicating perhaps that they'll be paired in game action down the road (good news for a guy who just picked up Gio at the end of his most recent keeper draft). Also, notice Negrin will be saddled with Bubba this evening. What's that fundamentalist thing about a couple being "unequally yolked" again? Poor kid. Hopefully he can show well anyways.
Prediction - Backlund gets a couple points.
EDIT - Flames line-up for tonight confirmed here.
Outside of evaluating the individual performances of the hopefuls, outcomes at this time of year aren't really indicative of anything. Meaning I tend to look at who showed up on the score sheet rather than the score itself.
No official releases regarding the line-up tonight so far. However, Rob Kerr was at the practice this morning and observed these lines:
Burtuzzi - Backlund - Iginla
Boyd- Lombardi - Bourque
Nystrom - Primeau - Prust
Glencross - Lundmark - Moss
Regehr - Sarich
Pardy - Aucoin
Negrin - Eriksson
That first line is obviously the most intriguing: I like the fact that Backlund is getting an opportunity with the big boys right off the bat. Assuming the trio remains intact for the majority of the contest, his results by the end of the night might be instructive. A good showing would be a strong step towards making this team out of camp (and making Sutter's budget woes a little more complicated).
Glencrosss, Lombardi (2nd fittest Flame this year!), Bourque and Prust are other forwards I'll be watching for (or listening to, as it were). And Bertuzzi, I guess *grumble*.
As for the back-end, Pardy and Negrin are the only notables. Notice that Phaneuf and Giordano aren't in the line-up, indicating perhaps that they'll be paired in game action down the road (good news for a guy who just picked up Gio at the end of his most recent keeper draft). Also, notice Negrin will be saddled with Bubba this evening. What's that fundamentalist thing about a couple being "unequally yolked" again? Poor kid. Hopefully he can show well anyways.
Prediction - Backlund gets a couple points.
EDIT - Flames line-up for tonight confirmed here.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Musings of Interest: Mark Giordano
A lot of virtual ink has been spilled over this seemingly minor, depth defenseman the last few seasons.
It's not only due to the contract dispute/flight to Russia thing though. Giordano is a genuinely interesting player, beyond the circumstances that have surrounded him the last couple seasons.
Matt sums up the notables in that last link above:
- Signed as an undrafted 20-year-old in the summer of 2004.You can now append to that list the following:
- Solid first pro year with the Lowell Lock Monsters (shared AHL affiliate with Carolina), 6-10-16 in 66GP.
- Stupendous second pro year (2005-06) with the Omaha Knights: 16-42-58 in 73GP to lead the team -- not defensemen, the whole team -- in scoring. Played 7 games with the Flames as an injury fill-in (1 assist), unfortunately timed so that he missed the AHL All-Star game.
- Made the big club out of training camp in 2006 (nominally as the #7 Dman). All accounts were that it was entirely deserved, and that he was impressive (as opposed to, say, being the best of a mediocre lot and winning that #7 spot by default).
- Started the season in the lineup (The Warrener was hurt) playing 8-9 minutes a night. In Game 5 in front of friends and family in T.O., he scored 2 EV goals. Following that game, Warrener got back in the lineup and Giordano dressed twice in the next 5-1/2 weeks.
- For most of Nov/Dec/Jan, he dressed only when someone else was hurt. Starting in about February, he was occasionally inserted into the lineup instead of Andrea Susan on merit. At the deadline, the Flames added another guy to the mix by acquiring David Hale from the Devils.
- Playoffs: with Regehr injured, the top 5 were Stuart, Phaneuf, Hamrlik, Warrener, and Zyuzin, with Giordano and Hale as the options for the #6. Hale started games 1 & 2, and was beyond atrocious in G2, most notably in the form of spending the last 4 minutes of the game (when the Flames were down by 2) in the penalty box for stupid minors.
- Giordano got the call for G3, and justified his presence rather promptly. Using his trademark (and uncommon skill) wrist-shot-that-finds-the-net-through-traffic, he scored the tying goal in the 3rd period; Iginla scored the winner shortly thereafter and the Flames were back in the series. Giordano was in the lineup for the remainder of the series.
- Played in the RSL as a 24 year old with Dynamo Moscow. Led the team's defenders in scoring the during the play-offs with 1 goal and 6 points in 9 games.
- Played for Canada's Spengler Cup winning team in 2007.
- Was chosen for Canada's World Championship club in 2008.
With the news that Gio has been paired with Dion Phaneuf throughout training camp, I couldn't help but think of Brian Rafalski as a potential comparison for the Flames prodigal son.
Consider that:
- Rafalski was a big time scorer in College hockey, managing 45 points in 43 games during his final year.
- Considered undersized, Rafalski was never drafted.
- He played several years overseas in the Swedish and Finnish Elite Leaugues. Eventually won acclaim and was signed as a 26 year old by the Devils.
- Scored 32 points in his rookie season.
- Led NJ's blueline in scoring the next season...
Now, obviously this is a very optimistic comparison given the kind of career Rafalski has been able to carve out for himself. Still some of the parallels are difficult to ignore: the obvious offensive proclivities, the lack of "ideal" NHL size, the big amateur numbers, the curious indifference of NHL scouts, the progression in *other* pro leagues besides the NHL.
By no means does this guarantee Giordano any kind of future success, but I find it interesting to have such an obvious modern comparable - meaning it's at least possible for a guy like Giordano to become an impact player at the NHL level.
Kyle adds his thoughts on Mr. Bean here.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Me about town
Indulge me in some solipsism for a moment.
Although it's seemed unbearably endless at points, this off-season has actually been a very busy one for me on the blog-front. Beyond polluting the inter-tubes with my rants in this space, I've also been active elsewhere (by request!):
- Oilersnation.com approached me a couple of weeks back and asked me to pitch in on their NW Division preview (which is flattering, considering the impressive roster of writers they employ). My Wild effort is up today and my Flames piece should follow it in a weeks time.
- Like last year, I'm freelancing for Fanball.com. I can't prove it, because my work is behind a subscription wall, so you're going to have to trust me.
- New to the scene NHLfullaccess.com has asked me to submit weekly thoughts on the NW Division throughout the season. I've submitted Flames and Oilers previews thus far.
- Pensburgh, an excellent blog following Pittsburgh, also requested a Flames Preview from yours truly. It hasn't gone live yet, so keep your eyes peeled (if you want to read my 10th Flames preview of the off-season, that is).
- Im currently in negotiations with a couple of different parties regarding Fiveholefanatics itself. I can't divulge anything yet, but some notable changes (for the better I hope) should/could be happening in the next few weeks.
(Although it starts with a "w", I believe the word you're all thinking of is properly pronounced hoo-er)
Although it's seemed unbearably endless at points, this off-season has actually been a very busy one for me on the blog-front. Beyond polluting the inter-tubes with my rants in this space, I've also been active elsewhere (by request!):
- Oilersnation.com approached me a couple of weeks back and asked me to pitch in on their NW Division preview (which is flattering, considering the impressive roster of writers they employ). My Wild effort is up today and my Flames piece should follow it in a weeks time.
- Like last year, I'm freelancing for Fanball.com. I can't prove it, because my work is behind a subscription wall, so you're going to have to trust me.
- New to the scene NHLfullaccess.com has asked me to submit weekly thoughts on the NW Division throughout the season. I've submitted Flames and Oilers previews thus far.
- Pensburgh, an excellent blog following Pittsburgh, also requested a Flames Preview from yours truly. It hasn't gone live yet, so keep your eyes peeled (if you want to read my 10th Flames preview of the off-season, that is).
- Im currently in negotiations with a couple of different parties regarding Fiveholefanatics itself. I can't divulge anything yet, but some notable changes (for the better I hope) should/could be happening in the next few weeks.
(Although it starts with a "w", I believe the word you're all thinking of is properly pronounced hoo-er)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Flames main camp opens
...And here are the rosters.
Group A features Bertuzzi and Iginla (and Lundmark!). Guys to watch:
Negin, Giordano, Van Der Gulik, Carpentier, Irving.
Group B features Cammalleri, Lombardi and Boyd (and Seitsonen!). Guys to watch:
Backlund, Bourque, Pelech, Pardy.
Some guys to forget right now because they won't be relevant:
Lalande (sprained ankle), Pete Vandermeer (AHL goon), Tremblay (worse player than Godard), Palin, Spang (who?), Nilson (not coming back from Europe), Germyn (veteran AHL fodder).
Four more days till meaningless games begin! Wooo!
Group A features Bertuzzi and Iginla (and Lundmark!). Guys to watch:
Negin, Giordano, Van Der Gulik, Carpentier, Irving.
Group B features Cammalleri, Lombardi and Boyd (and Seitsonen!). Guys to watch:
Backlund, Bourque, Pelech, Pardy.
Some guys to forget right now because they won't be relevant:
Lalande (sprained ankle), Pete Vandermeer (AHL goon), Tremblay (worse player than Godard), Palin, Spang (who?), Nilson (not coming back from Europe), Germyn (veteran AHL fodder).
Four more days till meaningless games begin! Wooo!
Hey! I know!
The Kings are apparently having trouble re-signing RFA Patrick O'Sullivan. He's a 23 year old that had 22 goals and 53 points on a bad Kings team last year. He's also a guy that scored 47 goals and 93 points as a 20 year in the AHL.
Kids going to be a player. I say we trade Aucoin for him. Or Langkow. LA could use either or both, right?
Do it.
(On a related note...I really need the season to just start already).
Kids going to be a player. I say we trade Aucoin for him. Or Langkow. LA could use either or both, right?
Do it.
(On a related note...I really need the season to just start already).
Thursday, September 18, 2008
A Drastic Proposal
As we all wait for the new season's ice cream to melt a little, I figure I might as well continue to propose wild, hypothetical scenarios that will draw derisive snorts and evoke needless arguments.
So here goes:
Trade Daymond Langkow.
Think about it. The Flames have an absolute logjam up the middle. After Langkow there is:
Lombardi
Conroy
Boyd
Primeau
Backlund
Ryder
Carpentier
Wahl
Sure, Conroy goes away after this year...but that's it. Everyone else sticks around beyond that (unless they find some sucker to take that awful Primeau contract. Doubtful).
1.) The first problem is, there's lots of the same kind of player battling it out for limited spots: Lombardi, Backlund, Boyd and potentially Ryder (at some future point) are all agile, offensive centerman who would best be deployed with offensive wingers. Even if you assume Lombardi's ceiling is a 3rd line/40 point guy, that still leaves Boyd, Backlund and Langkow cluttering the top 3 in the near future. And Im not even counting Cammalleri, who is also a natural center.
I suppose there's the option of converting one or two of these guys to wing. That doesn't seem like a sound strategy to me however: Langkow is an established centerman and wont be changing any time soon. Lombardi has gone through two ego-bruising seasons of becoming a capable two-way pivot. Moving him to the boards just as the light goes on wouldn't make much sense. Boyd tried to play wing last year during the kid-line fiasco and it was a disaster. And, by all accounts, Backlund is already a good two-way player. Not to mention being the prototypical playmaking center coaches are always looking for up the middle.
No - what the Flames have here is centers. Too many of them.
2.) What they dont have, however, is depth on the wings. Especially the right side where the step down after Jarome is a steep one:
Iginla
Bertuzzi?
Moss
Roy
Van Der Gulik
Nesmisz?
The left side isn't much better:
Cammalleri
Bourque
Glencross
Nystrom
Greentree?
Prust?
Chucko?
Delete Cammalleri, who might bolt for free agency after this season, and things get significantly uglier.
What Im getting at is the Flames are in a position to deal from strength to shore up a weakness. Langkow has a decent value contract considering his recent numbers and could probably garner some interest. Particularly around the trade deadline when some emergent contender will be looking to add "another significant piece".
3.) Langkow turns 32 in 9 days. His new deal, averaging 4.5M/year, stretches until 11/12 when he'll be 35 at the onset of the season.
To be fair, Langkow has been the picture of consistency over the course of his career and there hasn't been any sign of slowing down recently, but...I still think there's a good chance that he will be overpaid relative to his contributions by the time he's that age. A sizable portion of NHLers start to hit the downward slope mid-way through the 30's. If that happens to Daymond, the team will be stuck paying a 35 year-old 3rd liner (Conroy anyone?) 4.5M that season. And as we've experienced this summer, ditching bad value deals in the capped NHL is by no means easy or assured. Move him now while the dollars seem sensible and he has value.
4.) Trading Langkow means aggressively developing the kids. Which, given the fact that I assume the Flames aren't challenging for the cup this year, is a good thing.
Cammalleri - Backlund - Iginla
New Winger - Lombardi - Bertuzzi
Bourque - Boyd - Moss
Glencross - Conroy - Nystrom
Primeau
Roy
Backlund centering the first line as a rookie is probably silly. It's also something that's happened with some elite younger talents recently (Backstrom, Toews, Mueller, Kopitar) with relative success. By that I mean success for the prospect in question and potentially the organization in the long-term. Would I do this if the Flames were contenders for the Cup this year? Hell no. Are they? Probably not. The loss of Langkow would likely mean some growing pains for Backlund and a loss of a few points off the record. Instead of placing 6th-8th, the club might place 7th-10th. Instead of losing in the first round, they might not make the play-offs at all. That said, I think the club would be better positioned less Langkow's 4.5M going forward into 09/10, especially if he can be moved for a decent return.
5.) Moving Langkow could also potentially free up salary to re-sign Cammalleri, who is both younger and has a higher ceiling. So even if none of the half dozen potential offensive centers waiting in the wings are able to replace Langkow in the short or long term, the Flames have another potential replacement playing on the wing right now anyways.
6.) Langkow is a good player. Maybe very good. But he isn't irreplacable. He's only once managed more than 70 points, for instance.
Last season, Langkow saw easier competition than Tanguay, Conroy, Nolan and Iginla. He beat the hell out the bad guys (3.25 GF/60 vs 2.29 GA/60), but he also had the best teammates the team had to offer (+0.44). Earlier this summer, I showed that Langkow's results on the PP were probably more due to playing with difference makers than him driving the results.
Keep in mind, Langkow has already peaked: he will inevitably get worse as the contract matures.
Assumptions:
1.) Backlund is who I - and a lot of other pundits - think he is. This is by no means a sure thing and could result in a bit of a disaster. However, even if Backlund Flames out spectacularly (punny!), Calgary could move Lombardi up or Cammalleri over. Because, as I've said...we have A LOT OF CENTERS.
2.) The New Winger* coming back in the deal can potentially step into the top 6. This, of course, is the crux of the proposal and is also the fuzziest. IF it could be done, however, then I think it SHOULD BE.
*(I might also take a young, established, top 4 defenseman.).
I know, I know. It's stupid.
Flame away.
So here goes:
Trade Daymond Langkow.
Think about it. The Flames have an absolute logjam up the middle. After Langkow there is:
Lombardi
Conroy
Boyd
Primeau
Backlund
Ryder
Carpentier
Wahl
Sure, Conroy goes away after this year...but that's it. Everyone else sticks around beyond that (unless they find some sucker to take that awful Primeau contract. Doubtful).
1.) The first problem is, there's lots of the same kind of player battling it out for limited spots: Lombardi, Backlund, Boyd and potentially Ryder (at some future point) are all agile, offensive centerman who would best be deployed with offensive wingers. Even if you assume Lombardi's ceiling is a 3rd line/40 point guy, that still leaves Boyd, Backlund and Langkow cluttering the top 3 in the near future. And Im not even counting Cammalleri, who is also a natural center.
I suppose there's the option of converting one or two of these guys to wing. That doesn't seem like a sound strategy to me however: Langkow is an established centerman and wont be changing any time soon. Lombardi has gone through two ego-bruising seasons of becoming a capable two-way pivot. Moving him to the boards just as the light goes on wouldn't make much sense. Boyd tried to play wing last year during the kid-line fiasco and it was a disaster. And, by all accounts, Backlund is already a good two-way player. Not to mention being the prototypical playmaking center coaches are always looking for up the middle.
No - what the Flames have here is centers. Too many of them.
2.) What they dont have, however, is depth on the wings. Especially the right side where the step down after Jarome is a steep one:
Iginla
Bertuzzi?
Moss
Roy
Van Der Gulik
Nesmisz?
The left side isn't much better:
Cammalleri
Bourque
Glencross
Nystrom
Greentree?
Prust?
Chucko?
Delete Cammalleri, who might bolt for free agency after this season, and things get significantly uglier.
What Im getting at is the Flames are in a position to deal from strength to shore up a weakness. Langkow has a decent value contract considering his recent numbers and could probably garner some interest. Particularly around the trade deadline when some emergent contender will be looking to add "another significant piece".
3.) Langkow turns 32 in 9 days. His new deal, averaging 4.5M/year, stretches until 11/12 when he'll be 35 at the onset of the season.
To be fair, Langkow has been the picture of consistency over the course of his career and there hasn't been any sign of slowing down recently, but...I still think there's a good chance that he will be overpaid relative to his contributions by the time he's that age. A sizable portion of NHLers start to hit the downward slope mid-way through the 30's. If that happens to Daymond, the team will be stuck paying a 35 year-old 3rd liner (Conroy anyone?) 4.5M that season. And as we've experienced this summer, ditching bad value deals in the capped NHL is by no means easy or assured. Move him now while the dollars seem sensible and he has value.
4.) Trading Langkow means aggressively developing the kids. Which, given the fact that I assume the Flames aren't challenging for the cup this year, is a good thing.
Cammalleri - Backlund - Iginla
New Winger - Lombardi - Bertuzzi
Bourque - Boyd - Moss
Glencross - Conroy - Nystrom
Primeau
Roy
Backlund centering the first line as a rookie is probably silly. It's also something that's happened with some elite younger talents recently (Backstrom, Toews, Mueller, Kopitar) with relative success. By that I mean success for the prospect in question and potentially the organization in the long-term. Would I do this if the Flames were contenders for the Cup this year? Hell no. Are they? Probably not. The loss of Langkow would likely mean some growing pains for Backlund and a loss of a few points off the record. Instead of placing 6th-8th, the club might place 7th-10th. Instead of losing in the first round, they might not make the play-offs at all. That said, I think the club would be better positioned less Langkow's 4.5M going forward into 09/10, especially if he can be moved for a decent return.
5.) Moving Langkow could also potentially free up salary to re-sign Cammalleri, who is both younger and has a higher ceiling. So even if none of the half dozen potential offensive centers waiting in the wings are able to replace Langkow in the short or long term, the Flames have another potential replacement playing on the wing right now anyways.
6.) Langkow is a good player. Maybe very good. But he isn't irreplacable. He's only once managed more than 70 points, for instance.
Last season, Langkow saw easier competition than Tanguay, Conroy, Nolan and Iginla. He beat the hell out the bad guys (3.25 GF/60 vs 2.29 GA/60), but he also had the best teammates the team had to offer (+0.44). Earlier this summer, I showed that Langkow's results on the PP were probably more due to playing with difference makers than him driving the results.
Keep in mind, Langkow has already peaked: he will inevitably get worse as the contract matures.
Assumptions:
1.) Backlund is who I - and a lot of other pundits - think he is. This is by no means a sure thing and could result in a bit of a disaster. However, even if Backlund Flames out spectacularly (punny!), Calgary could move Lombardi up or Cammalleri over. Because, as I've said...we have A LOT OF CENTERS.
2.) The New Winger* coming back in the deal can potentially step into the top 6. This, of course, is the crux of the proposal and is also the fuzziest. IF it could be done, however, then I think it SHOULD BE.
*(I might also take a young, established, top 4 defenseman.).
I know, I know. It's stupid.
Flame away.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The first cut is the...least relevent
Sutter sent a bunch of kids home yesterday, in what was the first culling of the 08/09 training camp:
JUNIORS(CHL):
Keith Aulie (LD) Brandon/WHL
Lance Bouma (LW) Vancouver/WHL
TJ Brodie (LD) Saginaw/OHL
Ryley Grantham (LW) Moose Jaw/WHL
Greg Nemisz (RW) Windsor/OHL
Mitch Wahl (C) Spokane/WHL
SWEDEN: Per Jonsson (LD) Farjestads/SWE
Five of these guys were 08 draft picks, so there was little chance of them sticking around for pre-season action anyways.
More significantly, Keith Aulie and Per Jonsson going away this early is bad news for both prospects. Aulie has already played 3 years in the WHL and Jonsson is a 20 year-old player with some pro experience under his belt. The fact that these guys didn't even last till the end of prospects camp (let alone into main camp) can't be a good signal.
On the other hand, it looks like John Negrin will make it into main camp for the 2nd pre-season in a row. Keep in mind, Sutter also called up Negrin as a "black ace" for the big team during the play-offs in April. This is very obviously a kid that management is high on and it wouldn't surprise me to see him make the team next year as a 20 year-old (once the org loses the Aucoin/Eriksson/Warrener contracts).
JUNIORS(CHL):
Keith Aulie (LD) Brandon/WHL
Lance Bouma (LW) Vancouver/WHL
TJ Brodie (LD) Saginaw/OHL
Ryley Grantham (LW) Moose Jaw/WHL
Greg Nemisz (RW) Windsor/OHL
Mitch Wahl (C) Spokane/WHL
SWEDEN: Per Jonsson (LD) Farjestads/SWE
Five of these guys were 08 draft picks, so there was little chance of them sticking around for pre-season action anyways.
More significantly, Keith Aulie and Per Jonsson going away this early is bad news for both prospects. Aulie has already played 3 years in the WHL and Jonsson is a 20 year-old player with some pro experience under his belt. The fact that these guys didn't even last till the end of prospects camp (let alone into main camp) can't be a good signal.
On the other hand, it looks like John Negrin will make it into main camp for the 2nd pre-season in a row. Keep in mind, Sutter also called up Negrin as a "black ace" for the big team during the play-offs in April. This is very obviously a kid that management is high on and it wouldn't surprise me to see him make the team next year as a 20 year-old (once the org loses the Aucoin/Eriksson/Warrener contracts).
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Quad Cities prepares for influx of verterans...
...will soon be a lede in some QC paper somewhere. Why? Because the Anaheim Ducks have just put Schneider on waivers.
What does this mean for Flames fans? Well, either Burke didn't try very hard to trade the $5 million d-man or...there simply is no market for "salary dumps". Even for guys that are still kinda useful like Schneider.
If the second premise is the accurate one, Warrener, Eriksson and, yes, even Aucoin, are all pretty much untradable. Meaning at least one of them (if not two) will be taking a long, humiliating flight south this October.
Add that to Nilson's defection and you'll notice that three quarters of the "salary problems" of this off-season were acquired or signed just last off-season (4/5ths if you include Wayne Primeau in that group). Hmmmm...
What does this mean for Flames fans? Well, either Burke didn't try very hard to trade the $5 million d-man or...there simply is no market for "salary dumps". Even for guys that are still kinda useful like Schneider.
If the second premise is the accurate one, Warrener, Eriksson and, yes, even Aucoin, are all pretty much untradable. Meaning at least one of them (if not two) will be taking a long, humiliating flight south this October.
Add that to Nilson's defection and you'll notice that three quarters of the "salary problems" of this off-season were acquired or signed just last off-season (4/5ths if you include Wayne Primeau in that group). Hmmmm...
Sausage Links
I missed the kids victory over the Vancower newts last night. So, instead of first-hand accounts I'll just fill this space with a bunch of Flames-related links instead.
- Scott Cruickshank puts together a game story over at the Calgary Herald:
Calgary 6 - Vancouver 3
Three Stars
1. Calgary D John Negrin -- His handiwork on the night's opening goal, just 30 seconds in, is a picture of blue-liner poise.
2. Vancouver RW Michael Grabner -- Two goals. One near goal. Nearly turns game around with second- period outburst.
3. Calgary LW Lance Bouma -- For the second straight night, he turns in a bulldog-like performance. Rewarded with a goal.
- Speaking of Negrin, the young third-rounder has turned some heads the past few days. Both Steve McFarlane and the aforementioned Cruickshank put down feature columns on him recently:
Maturity -- on and off the ice -- is the first word that comes to mind when talking to, or about, the Kootenay Ice defenceman.
"John's got a lot of poise in his game. I think his demeanour, when you get to know him and talk to him a little bit, you can see where his game reflects his personality -- he's very calm, he's pretty confident," associate coach Jim Playfair...
...
Take a peek at the Flames' first goal Monday.
All Negrin.
On the opening shift against the Vancouver Canucks in the Oil Country Rookie Tournament, J.D. Watt, mucker extraordinaire, worked diligently along the left boards and pried loose the puck, which he fed back to Negrin.
The lad then showed why he's such a tantalizing prospect.
Operating at the blue-line, he didn't panic. Rather, the 19-year-old calmly picked his way through the Canucks' defenders, then whipped a swell pass, against the grain, to a net-bound John Armstrong.
All Armstrong had left was a tap-in past startled netminder Morgan Clark.
Another star from last night, Lance Bouma, answers five questions for the Herald:
What was your off-season highlight?
"I mostly just trained and didn't do much exciting. I guess coming to Calgary (for the prospects camp in July) was the most exciting part . . . just to get to know the other guys and make it less nerve-wracking here at this camp."
It's a big time fluff piece for sure. Unless you think Bouma's favorite summer movie can give you insight on the kind of player he'll turn out to be.
- Finally, the incredibly busy Cruickshank penned this article on Adam Cracknell:
Sutter -- near the end of Cracknell's lengthy post-season run with the Las Vegas Wranglers last spring -- had not bothered to mince words when discussing the prospect's professional-hockey future.
"Hey, he's got NHL offensive skills
. . . but it's a matter of his whole game being rounded," Sutter said in late May. "Without your whole game being rounded, you have trouble playing. So till he figures that out, that's his spot."
I would say Sutter is being kind to Cracknell here. The guy was a PPG player last year, sure...but in the ECHL. Still, it'll be interesting to see what he does in QC this season (which is where I imagine he'll land).
- Scott Cruickshank puts together a game story over at the Calgary Herald:
Calgary 6 - Vancouver 3
Three Stars
1. Calgary D John Negrin -- His handiwork on the night's opening goal, just 30 seconds in, is a picture of blue-liner poise.
2. Vancouver RW Michael Grabner -- Two goals. One near goal. Nearly turns game around with second- period outburst.
3. Calgary LW Lance Bouma -- For the second straight night, he turns in a bulldog-like performance. Rewarded with a goal.
- Speaking of Negrin, the young third-rounder has turned some heads the past few days. Both Steve McFarlane and the aforementioned Cruickshank put down feature columns on him recently:
Maturity -- on and off the ice -- is the first word that comes to mind when talking to, or about, the Kootenay Ice defenceman.
"John's got a lot of poise in his game. I think his demeanour, when you get to know him and talk to him a little bit, you can see where his game reflects his personality -- he's very calm, he's pretty confident," associate coach Jim Playfair...
...
Take a peek at the Flames' first goal Monday.
All Negrin.
On the opening shift against the Vancouver Canucks in the Oil Country Rookie Tournament, J.D. Watt, mucker extraordinaire, worked diligently along the left boards and pried loose the puck, which he fed back to Negrin.
The lad then showed why he's such a tantalizing prospect.
Operating at the blue-line, he didn't panic. Rather, the 19-year-old calmly picked his way through the Canucks' defenders, then whipped a swell pass, against the grain, to a net-bound John Armstrong.
All Armstrong had left was a tap-in past startled netminder Morgan Clark.
Another star from last night, Lance Bouma, answers five questions for the Herald:
What was your off-season highlight?
"I mostly just trained and didn't do much exciting. I guess coming to Calgary (for the prospects camp in July) was the most exciting part . . . just to get to know the other guys and make it less nerve-wracking here at this camp."
It's a big time fluff piece for sure. Unless you think Bouma's favorite summer movie can give you insight on the kind of player he'll turn out to be.
- Finally, the incredibly busy Cruickshank penned this article on Adam Cracknell:
Sutter -- near the end of Cracknell's lengthy post-season run with the Las Vegas Wranglers last spring -- had not bothered to mince words when discussing the prospect's professional-hockey future.
"Hey, he's got NHL offensive skills
. . . but it's a matter of his whole game being rounded," Sutter said in late May. "Without your whole game being rounded, you have trouble playing. So till he figures that out, that's his spot."
I would say Sutter is being kind to Cracknell here. The guy was a PPG player last year, sure...but in the ECHL. Still, it'll be interesting to see what he does in QC this season (which is where I imagine he'll land).
Monday, September 15, 2008
Flames kids @ Oilers kids
I caught most of the prospect game last night, although a good portion of the first period was wiped out by technical issues.
Here are my very general thoughts, in no specific order:
- Although he didn't get any points, Mikael Backlund looked several steps ahead of a majority of the field. His ability to find seams in the offensive zone, especially during the PP, was impressive.
- Mitch Wahl was surprisingly effective, particularly considering his age. The puck seemed to follow the kid around all night and he generate several good scoring chances.
- TJ Brodie was the second big surprise for me. The Flames late-rounder from the most recent draft, Brodie showed good speed and composure with the puck. He managed to skate the puck out of harms way more than once.
- A year in the AHL helped out Brett Sutter a bunch. He scored the lone goal of the night - a shorthanded top-corner blast one a two-on-one - and managed to stick his nose into the dirty areas a lot.
- Matt Pelech had some issues and wasn't as dominating I figured a "near-NHL ready" defender would be against prospects. I think I heard he had some equipment concerns (skate malfunction), so that could explain it.
- Matt Keeltey was outstanding and was probably the reason the Flames won.
- Per Jonsson struggled visibly.
- I didn't notice Aki Seitsonen at all.
- Daniel Ryder played with Ryley Grantham and got little special teams time. He didn't really stand out in any way.
- Ryan Wilson displayed why he went undrafted last night. The guy is alright with the puck on his stick but has very limited lateral mobility, which limits his effectiveness. For example: Colin McDonald embarrassed him by driving wide during a fairly conventional one-on-one play in the first period.
- The Oilers players that stood out to me were: Huddy, McDonald, Peckham and Eberle.
- Kyle Greentree seemed to be developing chemistry with Backlund before getting run from behind by Paukovich. The big winger was carted off on a stretcher. The good news it looks like it's just a neck strain.
Flames lines/combos:
Kyle Greentree - Mikael Backlund - Greg Nemisz
Brett Sutter - Mitch Wahl - Aki Seitsonen
Ryley Grantham - Dan Ryder - Adam Cracknell
Lance Bouma - John Armstrong - JD Watt
Keith Aulie - John Negrin
TJ Brodie - Matt Pelech
Ryan Wilson - Per Jonsson
(Gord Baldwin)
Find some Oiler-centric thoughts on the game here, here and here.
Here are my very general thoughts, in no specific order:
- Although he didn't get any points, Mikael Backlund looked several steps ahead of a majority of the field. His ability to find seams in the offensive zone, especially during the PP, was impressive.
- Mitch Wahl was surprisingly effective, particularly considering his age. The puck seemed to follow the kid around all night and he generate several good scoring chances.
- TJ Brodie was the second big surprise for me. The Flames late-rounder from the most recent draft, Brodie showed good speed and composure with the puck. He managed to skate the puck out of harms way more than once.
- A year in the AHL helped out Brett Sutter a bunch. He scored the lone goal of the night - a shorthanded top-corner blast one a two-on-one - and managed to stick his nose into the dirty areas a lot.
- Matt Pelech had some issues and wasn't as dominating I figured a "near-NHL ready" defender would be against prospects. I think I heard he had some equipment concerns (skate malfunction), so that could explain it.
- Matt Keeltey was outstanding and was probably the reason the Flames won.
- Per Jonsson struggled visibly.
- I didn't notice Aki Seitsonen at all.
- Daniel Ryder played with Ryley Grantham and got little special teams time. He didn't really stand out in any way.
- Ryan Wilson displayed why he went undrafted last night. The guy is alright with the puck on his stick but has very limited lateral mobility, which limits his effectiveness. For example: Colin McDonald embarrassed him by driving wide during a fairly conventional one-on-one play in the first period.
- The Oilers players that stood out to me were: Huddy, McDonald, Peckham and Eberle.
- Kyle Greentree seemed to be developing chemistry with Backlund before getting run from behind by Paukovich. The big winger was carted off on a stretcher. The good news it looks like it's just a neck strain.
Flames lines/combos:
Kyle Greentree - Mikael Backlund - Greg Nemisz
Brett Sutter - Mitch Wahl - Aki Seitsonen
Ryley Grantham - Dan Ryder - Adam Cracknell
Lance Bouma - John Armstrong - JD Watt
Keith Aulie - John Negrin
TJ Brodie - Matt Pelech
Ryan Wilson - Per Jonsson
(Gord Baldwin)
Find some Oiler-centric thoughts on the game here, here and here.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Flames to stream Prospect tournament
Good news everyone!
The Flames are streaming the rookie tourny over ye olde intraweb, starting with tonight's game against the Oilers young 'uns:
Calgary Flames prospects start their 2008 training camp with a two game rookie tournament against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks in Camrose, AB.
The FAN 960’s Rob Kerr and Dean “Boomer” Molberg will have the call of the games from Camrose which can be viewed live on www.calgaryflames.com.
To join the action, click here and the launch the video portal at 7:00 p.m. MT Sunday when the Flames play the Oilers and 7 p.m. MT. Monday when the Flames play the Canucks.
Once the video player is launched, click on the Live Event icon and enjoy the streaming video and audio.
The three team tournament, hosted by the Oilers, will occur from Sunday, September 14 to Tuesday, September 16 at Encana Arena in Camrose’s newly opened Edgeworth Centre.
Local radio host Rob Kerr will be doing play-by-play, an appetizer for Flames fans who'll be watching him on the Flames PPV broadcasts this year instead of Roger Millions.
The Flames are streaming the rookie tourny over ye olde intraweb, starting with tonight's game against the Oilers young 'uns:
Calgary Flames prospects start their 2008 training camp with a two game rookie tournament against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks in Camrose, AB.
The FAN 960’s Rob Kerr and Dean “Boomer” Molberg will have the call of the games from Camrose which can be viewed live on www.calgaryflames.com.
To join the action, click here and the launch the video portal at 7:00 p.m. MT Sunday when the Flames play the Oilers and 7 p.m. MT. Monday when the Flames play the Canucks.
Once the video player is launched, click on the Live Event icon and enjoy the streaming video and audio.
The three team tournament, hosted by the Oilers, will occur from Sunday, September 14 to Tuesday, September 16 at Encana Arena in Camrose’s newly opened Edgeworth Centre.
Local radio host Rob Kerr will be doing play-by-play, an appetizer for Flames fans who'll be watching him on the Flames PPV broadcasts this year instead of Roger Millions.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Giordano's contract revealed
According to NHLscap, Gio has a three year deal, averaging $891,667/year (what an odd number). Begin your hypothetical demotions/trades/LTIR loop-hole considerations anew!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
There goes that option
Earl Sleek has a cheeky Pucktoon up over at AOL. The topic is managers looking to cut players (literally) in order to ditch salary to become cap compliant.
Basically, Earl's reasoning is: encourage some hobbled player to get surgery in the off-season in order to get some relief from his cap hit through the LTIR loop-hole. Something similar was proposed in the comments here by Kyle re: Rhett Warrener's problematic contract. Unfortunately, that's not really an option according Sleeks commenter:
This is a tricky part of the CBA. One thing to note is the team must be compliant with the cap BEFORE the player is injured. So in the case of the teams you mentioned, including your Ducks, the LTIR exemption would not provide any relief.
What the LTIR exemption does is allow the team to go over the cap to REPLACE a player that is injured long-term. If Schneider got injured tomorrow, the Ducks could go over the cap up to his salary amount (assuming the Ducks are exactly at the cap), but it never lowers the salary cap figure.
Assuming that's right (sounds right), unless the Flames can convince the NHL that Warrener was damaged during the prior season (and not this summer), it looks like an AHL demotion is inevitable for Rhettsky this October.
Basically, Earl's reasoning is: encourage some hobbled player to get surgery in the off-season in order to get some relief from his cap hit through the LTIR loop-hole. Something similar was proposed in the comments here by Kyle re: Rhett Warrener's problematic contract. Unfortunately, that's not really an option according Sleeks commenter:
This is a tricky part of the CBA. One thing to note is the team must be compliant with the cap BEFORE the player is injured. So in the case of the teams you mentioned, including your Ducks, the LTIR exemption would not provide any relief.
What the LTIR exemption does is allow the team to go over the cap to REPLACE a player that is injured long-term. If Schneider got injured tomorrow, the Ducks could go over the cap up to his salary amount (assuming the Ducks are exactly at the cap), but it never lowers the salary cap figure.
Assuming that's right (sounds right), unless the Flames can convince the NHL that Warrener was damaged during the prior season (and not this summer), it looks like an AHL demotion is inevitable for Rhettsky this October.
For gamers: NHL 09 is the real deal
Sean Leahy has a detailed review of EA Sports NHL 09, which was released yesterday in many stores in NA. I managed to pick it up and my initial reaction is the same as Leahy's: this is the electronic equivalent to crack. I've only just begun the "Be a Pro" journey, but just three games in I can see that I'll be doing a lot less sleeping, eating, reading and paying attention to loved ones in the forseeable future (especially since real hockey starts soon too).
I haven't tried joining an online league or team yet - I figure I'll need to be at least passably acceptable as a player first. Still, if anyone else has a PS3 out there, look me up and feel free to add me as a friend (mgnome9).
I haven't tried joining an online league or team yet - I figure I'll need to be at least passably acceptable as a player first. Still, if anyone else has a PS3 out there, look me up and feel free to add me as a friend (mgnome9).
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The blogroll cull
I went about altering my blogroll today. I added a new category (NW blogs) and culled a lot of the bad links (those being links to blogs that hadn't updated recently, or only updated once in a blue moon). I added a couple more to the general list and deleted a few others. If anyone can recommend a blog or two for any of the categories, let me know.
Flames this 'n that
*ITEM! The ongoing Marcus Nilson drama continues. According to a Swedish Newspaper, Nilson is preparing to sign with CSKA Moskow of the KHL. Here's the google translation for those of you not fluent in Swedish:
I'm no CBA expert, but I assume that if Nilson decides to not report to training camp, the Flames can suspend his contract (and cap-hit) for the year. That shaves $1M for the approximate 3M the Flames need to dump prior to October 9, so good news.
*ITEM! The Flames have officially released their prospect camp schedule. Included are on-ice practice sessions as well as the prospect tourny between the Flames, Oilers and Canucks futures:
The first on-ice session for the prospects is scheduled for Saturday, September 13th beginning at 10:00 am. A total of 25 players will be participating in the prospects camp (3 goalies, 8 defensemen and 14 forwards). On Sunday, September 14th the Flames prospects will participate in an exhibition game against the Edmonton Oilers prospects in Camrose at 7:00 pm, followed by an exhibition game against the Vancouver Canucks prospects on Monday, September 15th also in Camrose at 7:00pm.
Twenty-five kids are expected to attend, including Backlund, Jonsson, Negrin, Nemisz, Wahl, Greentree and Irving. The two day "tournament" starts Sunday and takes place exclusively in Camrose, Alberta. I dont know what coverage - if any - the tourny will garner, so it's likely a "be there or be square" kind of thing for curious fans.
*Item! I've been playing with the stats over at hockey analysis, mainly the GF/GA with/against per player stuff I introduced in the Phaneuf post below. What most interested me was the effect Jarome Iginla had on scoring last year across teammates (and vice versa). First, the raw stuff:
Now, the differences:
I simply subtracted the teams GF/20 rate for each player with/without Iginla for the first table, and then did the same thing for Jarome himself (with/without each player) in the second table. Excluded were guys who played less than 100 minutes with him. I also converted the difference to /60 minutes (rather the /20 rate) in the second column because it renders the effect more visible.
Not surprisingly, everyone's GF rate went up when they were on the ice with Jarome (aside from Vandermeer - the caveat being that Jim played 1000 minutes away from Jarome, most of it outside the Flames. His number is therefore meaningless, really). Notables are Phaneuf (2.1 GF/60), Aucoin (3.219 GF/60), Regehr (2.02 GF/60) and Lombardi (1.857 GF/60). Of course, the effect is so big in part because of the huge drop-off of scoring talent when Iginla's line left the ice. You'd go from Jarome to Conroy's shut-down line playing tough minutes to Lombardi trying to keep his head above water with Yelle, Nystrom or Moss and then the graceless chaos of Primeau, Godard, Smith et al. on the 4th line.
Iginla, being who he is, wasn't as effected by his teammates. Only Phaneuf (+0.738), Tanguay (+0.873), Aucoin (+1.371) and Sarich (-1.776) seemed to exert any sort of real influence (again, ignore Vandermeer's number).
Take from that what you will. I think of this stuff more as a curiosity than instructive at this point.
*ITEM! Desjardins has finally released his ES goaltending stats from 07/08. His analysis - which compares actual results to "expected" results based on the number and quality of shots faced - shows that Kipper marginally outperformed his expected SV of .910 and GAA of 2.40 last year (actual - .914 SV% and 2.29 GAA). That's not bad, but it's certainly not in the elite realm of, say, Henrik Lundqvist, JS Giguere or Martin Broduer, all of whom vastly bettered their expected stats.
In fact, Kipper was a middle of the pack goaltender by this metric last season, coming in below "lesser" guys like Khabibulin, Price, Labarbera, Legace, Biron, Gerber (!!), Osgood and Theodore.
For a cap hit of 5.83M, Kipper *has* to be better this year. Yes, Im saying it again.
(aside - look at how kind Minnesota is to it's goaltenders: Backstrom's .918 SV% and 2.21 GAA were actually nominally below his expected figures of .919 and 2.20. Lemaire runs a tight ship.)
(aside #2 - there's Kolzig and Smith side by side at the bottom of the list. Poor, poor Tampa Bay).
Can leave the NHL for RussiaItalics, interpretation and bold added by me.
NHL-proffset Marcus Nilson to be the next American in KHL.
He is practicing right now with CSKA Moscow and the team's website claims that Nilson is ready for the club.
Marcus Nilson, 30, is currently on a visit to Russia. He wants to test life in Russia and see if the country is something for him to continue hockeykarriären in.
But the situation is complex.
He belong to the Calgary Flames and has a year left on the contract. But the Flames will not bring any significant dose of an ice age (wont get much ice time as a Flame? - ed) to the Nilson next season and the break has been on the road a long time.
CSKA Moscow, which Nilson trained with, and Lokomotiv Jaroslav, Johan Ã…kerman club, has appeared as potential employers for Nilson.
According to CSKA's home page has now Nilson decided to CSKA.
There he will be American number three since Mikael Wahlberg and Mika Hannula already exist in the classic armeklubben, who won 32 championships in the old Soviet Union.
I'm no CBA expert, but I assume that if Nilson decides to not report to training camp, the Flames can suspend his contract (and cap-hit) for the year. That shaves $1M for the approximate 3M the Flames need to dump prior to October 9, so good news.
*ITEM! The Flames have officially released their prospect camp schedule. Included are on-ice practice sessions as well as the prospect tourny between the Flames, Oilers and Canucks futures:
The first on-ice session for the prospects is scheduled for Saturday, September 13th beginning at 10:00 am. A total of 25 players will be participating in the prospects camp (3 goalies, 8 defensemen and 14 forwards). On Sunday, September 14th the Flames prospects will participate in an exhibition game against the Edmonton Oilers prospects in Camrose at 7:00 pm, followed by an exhibition game against the Vancouver Canucks prospects on Monday, September 15th also in Camrose at 7:00pm.
Twenty-five kids are expected to attend, including Backlund, Jonsson, Negrin, Nemisz, Wahl, Greentree and Irving. The two day "tournament" starts Sunday and takes place exclusively in Camrose, Alberta. I dont know what coverage - if any - the tourny will garner, so it's likely a "be there or be square" kind of thing for curious fans.
*Item! I've been playing with the stats over at hockey analysis, mainly the GF/GA with/against per player stuff I introduced in the Phaneuf post below. What most interested me was the effect Jarome Iginla had on scoring last year across teammates (and vice versa). First, the raw stuff:
Now, the differences:
I simply subtracted the teams GF/20 rate for each player with/without Iginla for the first table, and then did the same thing for Jarome himself (with/without each player) in the second table. Excluded were guys who played less than 100 minutes with him. I also converted the difference to /60 minutes (rather the /20 rate) in the second column because it renders the effect more visible.
Not surprisingly, everyone's GF rate went up when they were on the ice with Jarome (aside from Vandermeer - the caveat being that Jim played 1000 minutes away from Jarome, most of it outside the Flames. His number is therefore meaningless, really). Notables are Phaneuf (2.1 GF/60), Aucoin (3.219 GF/60), Regehr (2.02 GF/60) and Lombardi (1.857 GF/60). Of course, the effect is so big in part because of the huge drop-off of scoring talent when Iginla's line left the ice. You'd go from Jarome to Conroy's shut-down line playing tough minutes to Lombardi trying to keep his head above water with Yelle, Nystrom or Moss and then the graceless chaos of Primeau, Godard, Smith et al. on the 4th line.
Iginla, being who he is, wasn't as effected by his teammates. Only Phaneuf (+0.738), Tanguay (+0.873), Aucoin (+1.371) and Sarich (-1.776) seemed to exert any sort of real influence (again, ignore Vandermeer's number).
Take from that what you will. I think of this stuff more as a curiosity than instructive at this point.
*ITEM! Desjardins has finally released his ES goaltending stats from 07/08. His analysis - which compares actual results to "expected" results based on the number and quality of shots faced - shows that Kipper marginally outperformed his expected SV of .910 and GAA of 2.40 last year (actual - .914 SV% and 2.29 GAA). That's not bad, but it's certainly not in the elite realm of, say, Henrik Lundqvist, JS Giguere or Martin Broduer, all of whom vastly bettered their expected stats.
In fact, Kipper was a middle of the pack goaltender by this metric last season, coming in below "lesser" guys like Khabibulin, Price, Labarbera, Legace, Biron, Gerber (!!), Osgood and Theodore.
For a cap hit of 5.83M, Kipper *has* to be better this year. Yes, Im saying it again.
(aside - look at how kind Minnesota is to it's goaltenders: Backstrom's .918 SV% and 2.21 GAA were actually nominally below his expected figures of .919 and 2.20. Lemaire runs a tight ship.)
(aside #2 - there's Kolzig and Smith side by side at the bottom of the list. Poor, poor Tampa Bay).
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Musings of Interest: Richie Regehr
Regehr the lesser isn't technically Flames property anymore, but it's likely he's still on the organizations radar screen.
The 25 year-old bother of Robyn Regehr bolted for the DEL (German League) last summer when it was clear that the Flames weren't going to offer him a new contract.
Sutter gets a pass on this one. Despite being an AHL all-star and seeing a few games in the bigs, Richie's development had ground to a halt thanks to concussion issues. He played just 28 games (22 AHL, 6 NHL) in 06/07 and it was unclear whether he'd be able to continue his career due to lingering concussion symptoms. Thus the decision not to renew his contract in the off-season.
Which, in retrospect, was the wrong move. Regehr played 44 games for the Frankfurt Lions last year and tore the league a new corn-hole, scoring 21 goals and 41 points in just 44 games. He set a DEL record for goals scored by a defenseman by managing 5 tallies in a single game. He was also the clubs best point-getter from the blueline and 5th best scorer overall (despite missing 11 games).
Of course, the Deutsche league is hardly the NHL. According to Desjardins league equivalencies it's slightly better than the AHL (0.52). Regehr's 0.93 PPG pace in the DEL converts to a 0.49 PPG rate in the NHL by Desjardins method, which is about 40 points over 82 NHL games (assuming like circumstances). Certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Although undrafted out of Junior, Richie experienced success at every other level during his career. He was a double digit scorer in the WHL twice and a WHL all-star in 2004. Upon being signed by Calgary in 04/05 as a free agent, Regehr immediately became a top 4 option on the farm for Lowell and, later, for Omaha. He played 20 games for the big club over two seasons and was poised to work his way further up the depth chart before the headaches began.
Richie is a much different player than his brother. Whereas Robyn is big, hard-hitting and suspect offensively, Richie is relatively smaller, more mobile and a better puck-mover, but not much of a "shut-down" guy. If one could combine the two siblings skill-sets, one would have probably an elite overall defenseman, I reckon.
During his cup of coffee for the Flames, Regehr never seemed overwhelmed or especially deficient in any aspect of play (unlike, say, the unfortunate Tim Ramholt). He looked very comfortable manning the point on the powerplay and seemed fairly poised with the puck from what I remember. I thought he was an excellent option for bottom-pairing duties going forward and was disappointed when he left the organization.
When Richie was signed by Frankfurt, he agreed to a two-year deal. He's already played two games for the Berlin Polar Bears this season (I guess he got traded?), scoring two points. I don't know if he'll ever return to North American hockey or if he's really over his health issues, but Im certain he'll be a "player of interest" to Calgary at the conclusion of his DEL contract; especially if he can replicate the level of success he enjoyed last season. Keep in mind, the Flames will be looking for depth next year when Aucoin, Warrener and Eriksson are (finally) off the books.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Musings of interest: Dion Phaneuf
I wasn't going to bother including Phaneuf in this series, but some stuff has come to light recently that begs to be shared. That and, well...Im having a hard time coming up with anything else to write about right now.
First off, Tyler over at MC79 explodes the myth that Phanuef doesn't see the tough match-ups. From Tylers chart, you can see that Dion spent a great deal of time against a lot of the big boys last year. And while he didn't exactly fare well (17 ES GF, 24 ES GA "star events"), no one else on the team really did either (except Regehr, naturally).
Of course, no one else on the team had to put up with Anders Eriksson as much. That's a drum I've been banging since the middle of last season, mostly on the strength of what I saw night in and night out. Luckily, I stumbled across some supporting evidence recently. Over at hockey analysis they have each players GF/GA with/without teammates. If you take a gander at Phaneuf's numbers, you'll see that he spent 611 ES minutes with Anders last year (more than any other partner):
Together, the duo allowed 33 ES goals, for a horrid 1.079 GA/20 rate (or 3.237 GA/60). Now, take a look at Phaneuf away from Bubba - his rate plunges down to 0.577 GA/20 (1.731) in 901 minutes of work. That's what I would call a significant effect. Turns out that Eriksson was a fairly deserving punching bag (you'll notice his GA/20 rate away from Phaneuf is still a terrible 0.948).
What's odd from a coaching perspective is how rarely Dion played with his other partners last season - Aucoin and Vandermeer - despite how much better those pairings fared (0.645 GA/20, 0.482 GA/40 in 434 and 207 minutes of ice, respectively). I mean, I caught the difference with my bare eye (and railed against the Eriksson/Phaneuf "chaos pairing" throughout the season constantly) and Im just a schmo watching games from his couch. How the hell did Keenan miss it? Or, if he didn't, what was he trying to accomplish with that pairing? Granted, they scored at a decent rate (1.014 GF/20), but that still leaves them under water. And, in fact, Aucoin/Phaneuf scored at a superior rate anyhow (1.244 GF/20).
Given that he played against the big boys last year AND dragged around a broken piano most nights, I think I can now confidently say:
1.) Phaneuf is ready to take the next step and play against the big boys routinely.
2.) Phaneuf could probably do so well with a capable partner.
As such, and I've suggested this before, I'd like to see Dion skate with Regehr at even-strength next year. That duo could play behind Iginla (who will probably have to take the tough match-ups) and keep their heads above water. Should that occur, I think we'll see "the leap" - when Dion goes from very good to elite - happen in 08/09.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
For gamers - A NHL 09 Preview
Mike Chen finally returned from oblivion and he's brought with him a fairly in-depth comparison of NHL 2k9 and EA Sports NHL 09. The most passage for me was his description of the "Be a Pro" gameplay:
EA's implemented a new Be A Pro feature which lets you basically be one player for an entire season. Part of the appeal of this is creating your own player, then getting drafted by a team and simulating the experience of just being that one player for the entire season. For the purposes of the demo, though, you understand the gameplay aspect of it, and I think it's actually really cool. In this case, you play as the center for the entire one-period demo (either Sidney Crosby or Henrik Zetterberg). As the center, the camera follows you regardless of where the puck is, though an arrow appears to help you with where you should be going.That sounds fantastic to me. Looks like I'll have to get a PS3 this September.
This feature gives gamers a totally different understanding and context for the game...
Here's an example: on one shift, I won the faceoff back to my D; I went into an open area on the half-boards and called for a pass, then passed it off to my wing in the slot. The puck caromed around and out the zone and a big blue arrow pointed me towards where my defensive responsibilities were. I got into the the defensive zone and looked for the open Red Wing in the slot while my two Penguins defensemen covered down low. I got behind my guy, lifted his stick, then lightly checked him until the puck cleared. My pinching D was rushing the puck, so I stayed behind him, and as he broke into the zone, I stayed on the blueline to cover his position. Once he dumped the puck to a wing, he swung back around and I drove the net.
So long, old Yeller
Stephane Yelle has found a home in Boston.
The old warrior had begun to break-down the last few seasons and was no longer the defensive force we all remember. In fact, he was one of the worst players on the PK last year and his offensive ability is pretty much zero.
Still, he remains a rung above the Wayne Primeau's of the world. Yelle is the kind of guy that can skate with a kid on the 3rd or 4th line and help him keep his head above water. He's not going to make much of impact for a team anymore, but he's probably not going to hurt them either.
So long, Yeller. I wish you well in your future endeavors.
PS - what's up with the Bruins collecting former Flames? Donovan, Ference, Kobasew and now Yelle?
The old warrior had begun to break-down the last few seasons and was no longer the defensive force we all remember. In fact, he was one of the worst players on the PK last year and his offensive ability is pretty much zero.
Still, he remains a rung above the Wayne Primeau's of the world. Yelle is the kind of guy that can skate with a kid on the 3rd or 4th line and help him keep his head above water. He's not going to make much of impact for a team anymore, but he's probably not going to hurt them either.
So long, Yeller. I wish you well in your future endeavors.
PS - what's up with the Bruins collecting former Flames? Donovan, Ference, Kobasew and now Yelle?
Calgary Flames - a summer summary
None of this will be new to regular readers of this space. However, with September finally upon us, I guess it's time to collate the yarns of my disparate thoughts and articles over the 3 last months into a sort of pre-season preview. It will also help to balance my seeming relentless pessimism with some of the things I like about the team.
What the Flames have:
Calgary's primary strength is an enviable nucleus of difference makers. Recognizing cornerstone players and signing them to decent contracts has probably been Sutter's greatest strength as the Flames GM.
1.) Jarome Iginla.
Is the shit. A top 5 forward in this league and signed to be a very reasonable deal (7M/year). Iginla is a boon to the club on and off the ice, both highly competitive yet gregarious and likable. He can play against anyone, drives results at ES and on the PP and can beat the hell out of guys that annoy him. He makes teammates better and strikes fear into the hearts of the opposition. Iginla is the type of guy that helps attract free agents to the organization because other players want to be on his team.
2.) Robyn Regehr.
Regehr was already a top-notch shut-down defenseman by the time he was 24. He's the bedrock upon which any team could build a solid back-end. Although the contributions of a "defensive-defensemen" are difficult to track, I'd say he's underpaid at 4M/year.
Regehr routinely plays against the best competition available and turns them away. He's hated by Oilers fans for his continued abuse of Alice Hemsky and he delivers hits like this:
I like Robyn Regehr.
3.) Dion Phaneuf.
Although still learning some of the nuances of the position, Phaneuf is unquestionably one of the most exciting defensmen to come around in a long time. His PPG average after three seasons is 0.65 - better than many forwards. He's increased his point total each subsequent year and has led the Flames in terms of total ice-time since breaking into the league. He's highly durable, has a howitzer of shot, can skate faster than half the team and can knock guys into the third row. Last year, he scored a coast-to-coaster against the Minnesota Wild - shorthanded:
He's already an elite point producer at 23 years-old and is poised to become one of the best all-around defensemen in the league with a step or two forward. His dollar figure looks hefty now (6.5M/year) but he's a good bet to justify that cap hit in the near future.
4.) Daymond Langkow.
Mr. reliable. Langkow has been a 20 goal, 60 point player forever. He can play in all situations and against pretty much anyone. He's especially adept at tipping pucks in front of the net and has excelled on the Flames PP because of it. The de facto first line center next season, he should be a lock for another 25 or 30 goals and 60+ points. Again.
These are the guys that ensure the Flames will always be respectable, whatever mistakes are made elsewhere. The Flames will probably always be within striking distance of the division title and the play-offs with these guys around*.
*(Miikka Kiprusoff was a part of this group once upon a time. He still might be, but that will depend on a return to form.)
5.) A dedicated farm team.
Although I've ripped on Sutter for not aggressively developing the kids during the last few years, the organization has gone about establishing a committed farm system, bred exclusively to nurture the Flames internal assets. The returns thus far have been rather uninspiring, but the theory is sound.
What they lack:
1.) Supporting ES producers.
Losing Huselius, Tanguay and Nolan this summer and replacing them with Bertuzzi, Cammalleri and Bourque represents a significant gamble. The team currently only has 2 established ES difference-makers in the top half of the forward ranks (Iginla, Langkow). No one else produced against tough assignments 5on5 last year. They either didn't score all that much (Bourque, Bertuzzi) got scored on a lot (Cammalleri) or both (Lombardi, Boyd?). Almost all of them played against soft competition.
2.) A Top 4 defenseman.
The Flames have two tiers on the back-end. The top includes three clear candidates (Phnauef, Regehr, Sarich) and the bottom is choked with bottom-pairing guys of varying quality (Aucoin, Giordano, Eriksson, Vandermeer, Warrener). Since losing Jordan Leopold in the Tanguay trade, Sutter has struggled to fill that vacancy, employing shoddy stop-gap measure after stop-gap measure (Zyuzin, Eriksson, Stuart, Aucoin, Vandermeer?).
Now, this seems a minor quibble when looking at some of the other bluelines in the league (Tampa Bay, Carolina, Wash...hell, all the SE division teams except Florida), but considering what it could be and the amount the org spends on the back-end - the lack of legit 4th defender is rather galling.
3.) Cap space.
On a related issue, the Flames have one of the priciest rosters in the entire league. Their cap cup runneth over. Even if Sutter finds some way to bury the dead weight (Nilson, Warrener, Eriksson), it's unlikely the club will have any real room to maneuver once the season starts. If Darryl decides the team needs a change at some point, it's going to take a major deal involving a significant player or two to get it done.
4.) Good bets to out-perform.
Calgary lost a large portion of their high value contracts this off-season. Huselius, at 1.4M/year, bolted for free agency while raises to Regehr (4M), Kiprusoff (5.833), Langkow (4.5) and Phaneuf (6.5) have all but wiped out the other good value to cap-hit ratios.
All Calgary has left is Lombardi (1.8), Giordano (800K), Boyd (742k), Moss (550k) Bertuzzi (1.9), Cammalleri (3.3) and Bourque (1.3) - and I wouldn't put money on at least half those guys significantly out-performing their cap hits next year.
5.) Quality kids.
Finally - and related to all points above - Calgary has a dearth of top-notch prospects in the system. I can only think of 2 skaters with the potential to crack the team's top 6 forward roster in the next couple seasons (Boyd and Backlund). Matt Pelech is the only defender who might turn into a top 4 guy in the next few years and even that is hardly assured. The QC Flames are crawling with a lot of young players and a lot of guys whose ceiling is the bottom-end of the rotation.
What Im looking forward to:
I dont think Calgary will be challenging for the cup this season. Too many question marks. What will likely drive my interest in 08/09 is the potential steps forward by a number of the orgs more compelling younger assets.
1.) Can Phaneuf become truly elite?
Although he's already proven a lot, Phaneuf will have to start excelling in his own end in order to become a real Norris trophy candidate. His PKing last year was fairly dreadful and he still has problems against the big guns. Scoring a lot of points is great - and very useful - but as the 2nd highest paid player on the roster behind Jarome Iginla, more will be expected of Dion going forward.
2.) Is Matthew Lombardi a top 6 forward?
This will be Lombardis last and best chance to convince me (and everyone else) that he's capable of being a legit top 6 forward in this league. He floundered last season, but has the kind of tools that suggest he could produce in the right circumstances. All signs point to him starting the year as the 2nd line center. It'll be fascinating to see what he does with it.
3.) Who is Mark Giordano?
I was a fan of what I saw of Gio his first season. I liked his awareness in the offensive zone, his speed, his vision and his tenacity. He had a lot of the problems that most rookie defenders have (ie: overwhelmed by good players or bad situations), but his results weren't too bad.
Unfortunately, thanks to the contract kerfuffle that followed, it's hard to know what kind of player Giordano really is at this point. His NHL sample size is tiny (40-odd games, averaging about 13 minutes a night against nobodies) meaning we have really poor quality data on him. He scored a lot in the AHL, played (well?) in the RSL and was selected for the Canadian World Championship team. Still, I have no firm fix on whether Gio will come out and challenge for that final top 4 position on the back-end or spend most of the year being the 7th defender.
4.) Can Dustin Boyd step out of the basement?
Boyd is fast, agile and has a nose for the net. He's scored in every league he's played in thus far in his career, besides the NHL. He is probably the 2nd best forward prospect in the system currently and is the most apt to take a big leap this season.
Unfortunately, a lot of obstacles stand in his way. There's a ton of more proven guys at his natural position - C - ahead of him on the roster. As such, there doesn't seem to be a natural "fit" for him anywhere. Lombardi and Langkow already populate the top 6, while playing with Conroy on a 3rd unit "checking line" wouldn't make much sense for the defensively challenged Boyd. Nor does plumbing the depths with Primeau, Roy and Nystrom.
If Boyd is to take a real step forward, he'll probably have to do it by outplaying the likes of Bourque and Glencross for a top 6 winger position.
5.) Was Rene Bourque a steal?
A lot of the former 'Hawks underlying stats are pretty impressive. He played against decent competition and came out even on a bad team. He was excellent short-handed and is known for his speed and hard shot. In addition, his injury issues which likely made him seem expendable in Chicago, look like freakish, acute type of incidents (cut throat, broken hand) than on-going chronic conditions.
Sutters other major strength as the Flames GM has been his penchant for pulling off theft-type deals every so often: Kipprusoff for a 2nd, Huselius for Montador and Langkow for parts (Gauthier and Saprykin) all spring to mind. I have a hunch the Bourque deal might fall into that category, so I'll be wathcing him closely this year.
What I dread:
1.) The Kipper decline:
Im aware that a downward trend is by no means inexorable. However, it's really hard to get away from his descending stats since winning the Vezina. Perhaps it's the Turek-experience speaking here, but Miikka's big raise this season - in concert with his ever more mediocre results - sends shivers down my spine.
If he rebounds and regains his form, I'll be glad to eat my words. However, a repeat performance or, worse, a tick in the wrong direction and the Flames have a 5.8M anchor in net and a very expensive, non-play-off roster.
2.) The Keenan factor.
Marcus Nilson and Alex Tanguay have recently spoken up about their poor experiences under Iron Mike last year. Huselius was beat up at the end of the regular season and then gladly bolted to free agency. There are some disquieting signs that Keenan is up to his old team-killing tricks again and might well plunge the club into chaos and disarray the same way he has several times before. Not only could this harm the Flames performance this season, it could effect the future of the club if he agitates, alienates or drives out any of the orgs other assets.
3.) Todd Bertuzzi.
Until he proves me wrong, Im going to assume that the Bertuzzi move was a bad one. The guy is a suspect teammate, flippant with the press, roundly hated throughout the league and has a pending multi-million dollar civil suit to deal with. He was also thoroughly ordinary for the Ducks last year, despite really favorable surroundings, and hasn't been an impact player for quite some time. On top of all that, he's missed 88 games the last two seasons due to back problems. While his contract is good (1 year, 1.9M), the cost of relying upon Bertuzzi to be a consistent top 6 producer might be a heavy one.
4.) All the bad money.
Calgary has a lot of bad contracts. Primeau, Eriksson, Warrener and Aucoin all make way too much for what they bring to the table. Have you ever seen one of those gasoline or motor oil ads talking about "engine gunk that impedes performance"? Well, that's what these guys are at their current price points - engine gunk. They take up too much cap space and block roster positions that would be better filled by up-and-comers.
Conclusion :
The Flames have a lot going on this year. Big gambles and big question marks piled atop a decent base of elite players. There's lots to be excited about and just as much to worry over. At the very least, this season is going to be an interesting one, no matter what happens.
What the Flames have:
Calgary's primary strength is an enviable nucleus of difference makers. Recognizing cornerstone players and signing them to decent contracts has probably been Sutter's greatest strength as the Flames GM.
1.) Jarome Iginla.
Is the shit. A top 5 forward in this league and signed to be a very reasonable deal (7M/year). Iginla is a boon to the club on and off the ice, both highly competitive yet gregarious and likable. He can play against anyone, drives results at ES and on the PP and can beat the hell out of guys that annoy him. He makes teammates better and strikes fear into the hearts of the opposition. Iginla is the type of guy that helps attract free agents to the organization because other players want to be on his team.
2.) Robyn Regehr.
Regehr was already a top-notch shut-down defenseman by the time he was 24. He's the bedrock upon which any team could build a solid back-end. Although the contributions of a "defensive-defensemen" are difficult to track, I'd say he's underpaid at 4M/year.
Regehr routinely plays against the best competition available and turns them away. He's hated by Oilers fans for his continued abuse of Alice Hemsky and he delivers hits like this:
I like Robyn Regehr.
3.) Dion Phaneuf.
Although still learning some of the nuances of the position, Phaneuf is unquestionably one of the most exciting defensmen to come around in a long time. His PPG average after three seasons is 0.65 - better than many forwards. He's increased his point total each subsequent year and has led the Flames in terms of total ice-time since breaking into the league. He's highly durable, has a howitzer of shot, can skate faster than half the team and can knock guys into the third row. Last year, he scored a coast-to-coaster against the Minnesota Wild - shorthanded:
He's already an elite point producer at 23 years-old and is poised to become one of the best all-around defensemen in the league with a step or two forward. His dollar figure looks hefty now (6.5M/year) but he's a good bet to justify that cap hit in the near future.
4.) Daymond Langkow.
Mr. reliable. Langkow has been a 20 goal, 60 point player forever. He can play in all situations and against pretty much anyone. He's especially adept at tipping pucks in front of the net and has excelled on the Flames PP because of it. The de facto first line center next season, he should be a lock for another 25 or 30 goals and 60+ points. Again.
These are the guys that ensure the Flames will always be respectable, whatever mistakes are made elsewhere. The Flames will probably always be within striking distance of the division title and the play-offs with these guys around*.
*(Miikka Kiprusoff was a part of this group once upon a time. He still might be, but that will depend on a return to form.)
5.) A dedicated farm team.
Although I've ripped on Sutter for not aggressively developing the kids during the last few years, the organization has gone about establishing a committed farm system, bred exclusively to nurture the Flames internal assets. The returns thus far have been rather uninspiring, but the theory is sound.
What they lack:
1.) Supporting ES producers.
Losing Huselius, Tanguay and Nolan this summer and replacing them with Bertuzzi, Cammalleri and Bourque represents a significant gamble. The team currently only has 2 established ES difference-makers in the top half of the forward ranks (Iginla, Langkow). No one else produced against tough assignments 5on5 last year. They either didn't score all that much (Bourque, Bertuzzi) got scored on a lot (Cammalleri) or both (Lombardi, Boyd?). Almost all of them played against soft competition.
2.) A Top 4 defenseman.
The Flames have two tiers on the back-end. The top includes three clear candidates (Phnauef, Regehr, Sarich) and the bottom is choked with bottom-pairing guys of varying quality (Aucoin, Giordano, Eriksson, Vandermeer, Warrener). Since losing Jordan Leopold in the Tanguay trade, Sutter has struggled to fill that vacancy, employing shoddy stop-gap measure after stop-gap measure (Zyuzin, Eriksson, Stuart, Aucoin, Vandermeer?).
Now, this seems a minor quibble when looking at some of the other bluelines in the league (Tampa Bay, Carolina, Wash...hell, all the SE division teams except Florida), but considering what it could be and the amount the org spends on the back-end - the lack of legit 4th defender is rather galling.
3.) Cap space.
On a related issue, the Flames have one of the priciest rosters in the entire league. Their cap cup runneth over. Even if Sutter finds some way to bury the dead weight (Nilson, Warrener, Eriksson), it's unlikely the club will have any real room to maneuver once the season starts. If Darryl decides the team needs a change at some point, it's going to take a major deal involving a significant player or two to get it done.
4.) Good bets to out-perform.
Calgary lost a large portion of their high value contracts this off-season. Huselius, at 1.4M/year, bolted for free agency while raises to Regehr (4M), Kiprusoff (5.833), Langkow (4.5) and Phaneuf (6.5) have all but wiped out the other good value to cap-hit ratios.
All Calgary has left is Lombardi (1.8), Giordano (800K), Boyd (742k), Moss (550k) Bertuzzi (1.9), Cammalleri (3.3) and Bourque (1.3) - and I wouldn't put money on at least half those guys significantly out-performing their cap hits next year.
5.) Quality kids.
Finally - and related to all points above - Calgary has a dearth of top-notch prospects in the system. I can only think of 2 skaters with the potential to crack the team's top 6 forward roster in the next couple seasons (Boyd and Backlund). Matt Pelech is the only defender who might turn into a top 4 guy in the next few years and even that is hardly assured. The QC Flames are crawling with a lot of young players and a lot of guys whose ceiling is the bottom-end of the rotation.
What Im looking forward to:
I dont think Calgary will be challenging for the cup this season. Too many question marks. What will likely drive my interest in 08/09 is the potential steps forward by a number of the orgs more compelling younger assets.
1.) Can Phaneuf become truly elite?
Although he's already proven a lot, Phaneuf will have to start excelling in his own end in order to become a real Norris trophy candidate. His PKing last year was fairly dreadful and he still has problems against the big guns. Scoring a lot of points is great - and very useful - but as the 2nd highest paid player on the roster behind Jarome Iginla, more will be expected of Dion going forward.
2.) Is Matthew Lombardi a top 6 forward?
This will be Lombardis last and best chance to convince me (and everyone else) that he's capable of being a legit top 6 forward in this league. He floundered last season, but has the kind of tools that suggest he could produce in the right circumstances. All signs point to him starting the year as the 2nd line center. It'll be fascinating to see what he does with it.
3.) Who is Mark Giordano?
I was a fan of what I saw of Gio his first season. I liked his awareness in the offensive zone, his speed, his vision and his tenacity. He had a lot of the problems that most rookie defenders have (ie: overwhelmed by good players or bad situations), but his results weren't too bad.
Unfortunately, thanks to the contract kerfuffle that followed, it's hard to know what kind of player Giordano really is at this point. His NHL sample size is tiny (40-odd games, averaging about 13 minutes a night against nobodies) meaning we have really poor quality data on him. He scored a lot in the AHL, played (well?) in the RSL and was selected for the Canadian World Championship team. Still, I have no firm fix on whether Gio will come out and challenge for that final top 4 position on the back-end or spend most of the year being the 7th defender.
4.) Can Dustin Boyd step out of the basement?
Boyd is fast, agile and has a nose for the net. He's scored in every league he's played in thus far in his career, besides the NHL. He is probably the 2nd best forward prospect in the system currently and is the most apt to take a big leap this season.
Unfortunately, a lot of obstacles stand in his way. There's a ton of more proven guys at his natural position - C - ahead of him on the roster. As such, there doesn't seem to be a natural "fit" for him anywhere. Lombardi and Langkow already populate the top 6, while playing with Conroy on a 3rd unit "checking line" wouldn't make much sense for the defensively challenged Boyd. Nor does plumbing the depths with Primeau, Roy and Nystrom.
If Boyd is to take a real step forward, he'll probably have to do it by outplaying the likes of Bourque and Glencross for a top 6 winger position.
5.) Was Rene Bourque a steal?
A lot of the former 'Hawks underlying stats are pretty impressive. He played against decent competition and came out even on a bad team. He was excellent short-handed and is known for his speed and hard shot. In addition, his injury issues which likely made him seem expendable in Chicago, look like freakish, acute type of incidents (cut throat, broken hand) than on-going chronic conditions.
Sutters other major strength as the Flames GM has been his penchant for pulling off theft-type deals every so often: Kipprusoff for a 2nd, Huselius for Montador and Langkow for parts (Gauthier and Saprykin) all spring to mind. I have a hunch the Bourque deal might fall into that category, so I'll be wathcing him closely this year.
What I dread:
1.) The Kipper decline:
Im aware that a downward trend is by no means inexorable. However, it's really hard to get away from his descending stats since winning the Vezina. Perhaps it's the Turek-experience speaking here, but Miikka's big raise this season - in concert with his ever more mediocre results - sends shivers down my spine.
If he rebounds and regains his form, I'll be glad to eat my words. However, a repeat performance or, worse, a tick in the wrong direction and the Flames have a 5.8M anchor in net and a very expensive, non-play-off roster.
2.) The Keenan factor.
Marcus Nilson and Alex Tanguay have recently spoken up about their poor experiences under Iron Mike last year. Huselius was beat up at the end of the regular season and then gladly bolted to free agency. There are some disquieting signs that Keenan is up to his old team-killing tricks again and might well plunge the club into chaos and disarray the same way he has several times before. Not only could this harm the Flames performance this season, it could effect the future of the club if he agitates, alienates or drives out any of the orgs other assets.
3.) Todd Bertuzzi.
Until he proves me wrong, Im going to assume that the Bertuzzi move was a bad one. The guy is a suspect teammate, flippant with the press, roundly hated throughout the league and has a pending multi-million dollar civil suit to deal with. He was also thoroughly ordinary for the Ducks last year, despite really favorable surroundings, and hasn't been an impact player for quite some time. On top of all that, he's missed 88 games the last two seasons due to back problems. While his contract is good (1 year, 1.9M), the cost of relying upon Bertuzzi to be a consistent top 6 producer might be a heavy one.
4.) All the bad money.
Calgary has a lot of bad contracts. Primeau, Eriksson, Warrener and Aucoin all make way too much for what they bring to the table. Have you ever seen one of those gasoline or motor oil ads talking about "engine gunk that impedes performance"? Well, that's what these guys are at their current price points - engine gunk. They take up too much cap space and block roster positions that would be better filled by up-and-comers.
Conclusion :
The Flames have a lot going on this year. Big gambles and big question marks piled atop a decent base of elite players. There's lots to be excited about and just as much to worry over. At the very least, this season is going to be an interesting one, no matter what happens.
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